Ratpublican, that is counting the 2 dishonourable mentions.
Following closely on the heels of the Delay, Cunningham, Abramoff scandals, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, has released it’s third annual report on the most corrupt members of congress. And there aren’t really any surprises.
© dick locher clik to enlarge
“Every year CREW creates this compendium of corruption to expose and hold accountable those members of Congress who believe they are above the law,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today. “With the third edition of Beyond DeLay it has become abundantly clear that many public officials believe that the rules don’t apply to them.”
Sloan continued, “Nevertheless, Congress persists in abdicating its constitutional responsibility to police itself, opting to ignore the ethical and legal transgressions of its members. Luckily for the public, at least the Department of Justice still believes that political corruption is worth pursuing.”
Several members in the study are already under federal investigation including: Reps. Calvert, Doolittle, Feeney, Jefferson, Lewis, Miller, Mollohan, Murphy, Renzi and Young, as well as Senator Stevens.
complete listing follows:
MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
[Demorats bold]
Members of the Senate:
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Members of House:
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
Dishonorable Mention:
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
Totals:
Ratpublicans 20
Demorats 4
Also, an update on the status of the previous offenders may be found here [2 pg. pdf].
They must be genetically predisposed to egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities.
lTMF’sA
tips, recs…whatever
lTMF’sA
tips, recs…whatever
I think both are in order. More visibility to this!
And kudos to the CREW crew for taking on this work.
On the home page of your link, there is an interesting map plotting the location of the 24 on the list. There is clearly a pattern:
Two clusters – one in the Mississippi/Missouri valley, the other in the South West. A couple of stragglers in the NW + one in Florida. None on the East Coast or in the Mid West.
I guess a sample of 24 is not really significant, but interesting anyway. Any theories why?
l noticed that too. they seem to be grouped in areas that are, imo, historically republican strongholds. l suspect a detailed analysis/study of the local politics would be very likely to show a pervasive attitude of the ends justify the means….accompanied by a rather large dose of you scratch my back, l’ll scratch yours…just a guess.
thanks for the rec. it’s appreciated. this kind of information has a tendency to not see the light of day.
lTMF’sA
dada,
Came by earlier to read your diary & saw the score 20/4. I don`t know enough of the geopolitics here nor if the religeolitics (my word) come into play.
All It shows me, is that there seems to be a preponderance of outlaws to the right of the law. The difference also, it seems, is that the left tries to clean up the messes, while the right, uses the spot beneath the carpet to hide it. You`d think they`d remember catechism class, when they were told not to do wrong, because jesus is all seeing (the fear thing again). That means under the carpet also.
Probably also a strong sense of tradition, a lot of “that’s just the way we do things here.” Whole lot of folks in certain parts of the world, maybe all parts if you get to know them well enough, who aren’t especially concerned with following the specific letter of the law, or ethics, so long as nobody complains.
(It ain’t that he’s crooked, son, we jes’ all friens hereabouts. You ain’t tryin’ to tell me you’d turn down a friend who asked a favor, are you?)
I dunno, I suspect the bias towards Republicans has something to do with the relative power within the system (what’s the point to buying someone who can’t help you?) as well as the fact that buying congresscritters is a relatively expensive hobby with a high risk and an iffy return, and those sorts of speculative investments are of limited availability to those trying to figure out how to make the rent and put food on the family this week.