WASHINGTON – A former top aide to Republican Rep. John Doolittle pleaded not guilty Monday to public corruption and obstruction of justice charges in an indictment that provides new details about the links between the congressman, his wife Julie, and convicted superlobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The Roseville congressman and his employees were showered with free lunches and tickets to concerts and sporting events, according to the indictment. In exchange, Doolittle provided legislative favors to Abramoff's clients, including work on a $16 million appropriation and a bill to provide statehood to Puerto Rico, the indictment said.

Abramoff also provided Doolittle's wife with a job in which she received $96,000 working for a nonprofit group, according to the indictment. It said Abramoff sent an e-mail to a consultant of the company, saying: "I want her to help, but not be overburdened with work" because of her role as a mother and wife. Later, Abramoff canceled a charity event that Doolittle's wife was working on, but she continued to receive $5,000 a month, "purportedly for marketing ideas" for a restaurant, the indictment said.

The 46-page indictment against Kevin Ring, a former legislative director for Doolittle who then went to work for Abramoff, includes previously undisclosed e-mails that give a blow-by-blow account of Doolittle's lengthy dealings with Abramoff, who was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. Ring is also accused of conspiring with former Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio and employees of former Republican Rep. Ernie Istook of Oklahoma.

Doolittle dined with Abramoff in some of Washington's finest restaurants, met with him in his office and asked him to provide his wife with a job and his campaign with political contributions, which Abramoff did, the indictment said.

In exchange for legislative favors, Abramoff and Ring provided Doolittle with four suite tickets to a Dixie Chicks concert at the MCI Center, four suite tickets to a Faith Hill concert at the same arena and an entire suite for an event at Camden Yards in Baltimore, the indictment said. Doolittle's aides received free tickets to watch Bruce Springsteen and the Washington Capitals hockey team and a free trip to Puerto Rico, according to the indictment.

The dealings between Abramoff and Doolittle were so extensive that, at one point, Doolittle's chief of staff sent an e-mail to Ring saying the congressman "felt like a subsidiary" of the lobbying firm. FBI agents raided Doolittle's home in Virginia last year.

The indictment did not specifically mention Doolittle but referred to him as "Representative 5" and noted that he represents a California congressional district. It also said that Ring, 37, worked as a staff member for "Representative 5" from 1993 to 1998, dates that match his employment with Doolittle. A source close to the case confirmed that the representative in question is indeed Doolittle.

Doolittle denies any wrongdoing.

David Barger, Doolittle's attorney, said: "It is clear that portions of the indictment of Kevin Ring are written with gratuitous references to the congressman and his wife to titillate the public, with the foreseeable and therefore intended consequence of attempting to embarrass and pressure the congressman."

Barger noted that the indictment does not allege "any sort of illegal agreement between Congressman Doolittle and Kevin Ring or Jack Abramoff." He said Doolittle "continues to steadfastly maintain there was none and that he is innocent."

Ring's attorney, Richard A. Hibey, said in a statement that his client had cooperated with federal prosecutors and agents in the case since January 2006. But when new Justice Department lawyers took over a year later, they pressured Ring to plead guilty and implicate others "as the price of leniency," he said.

"While Mr. Ring had been cooperating with officials for over two years, he simply could not plead guilty to crimes he did not commit," Hibey said.

Ring was the case manager for some of Abramoff's most prominent clients involved in the influence- peddling scandal.

Call Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-0009.