The veteran politician lays bare a rotten and corrupt Congress enslaved by lobbyists and interested only in re-election in an anonymous, 65-page manifesto called "The Confessions of Congressman X."

"Like most of my colleagues, I promise my constituents a lot of stuff I can never deliver," he admits. "But what the hell? It makes them happy hearing it . . . My main job is to keep my job."

The House member — a Democrat who is either still in Congress or served sometime over the past two decades — says more time is spent fundraising than reading bills and calls Washington a "sinkhole of leeches."

The title of one chapter sums up his view of congressional leaders: "Harry Reid's a Pompous Ass," he says of the Senate Democratic leader.

The book, published by the small Mill City Press, is based on years of transcribed private discussions, which the congressman last November gave editor Robert Atkinson.