September 18, 2007

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch). This encyclopedic report on corruption in the 110th Congress documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW has compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules.

Sixteen members have been replaced from last year’s list of 25.

CREW also has re-launched the report’s tandem website, www.beyonddelay.org . The site offers short summaries of each member’s transgressions as well as the full-length profiles and all accompanying exhibits.

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)

“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.

***

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.

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Check out the summaries at the below link. Lots of good info, complete with bio's and exhibits.

It does appear that some of these folks consider themselves above the law. I'm not a cynic, or one of those folks that says; "Awww, they're all corrupt". I do believe that there are good people who pursue public service with nothing but the best of intentions. It's sad that they are tainted by their association with corrupt officials.

http://www.beyonddelay.org/

Damn! Way too many Californians on that list…

quote:

Damn! Way too many Californians on that list

I think that Californian's still refer to this as the "Inland Empire".

Could be worse. You could be from Alaska Which has its entire Congressional Delegation on the list. That's every Senator and House member from AK.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by WhoFreak:
Good point. Boy am I glad I don't live in Alaska...YIKES

Too bad this isn't on the front page of every newspaper.

Wow, my two crooks didn't make the list.

Those are just the ones who got caught.

quote:

Too bad this isn't on the front page of every newspaper.

Wow, my two crooks didn't make the list.

Naw, it won't happen. We're much too overwhelmed with the Brittany/OJ train wrecks.

Off topic - But I wonder if in 50 years, we'll be asked to choose from the Fat or Skinny Brittany Postage Stamp.

Geeeeeeeeee 90% plus (R). Could there be just a weeee bit O BIAS.?????????????????????

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Repo Bad Demo good right?

quote:

Originally posted by WhoFreak:

quote:

Too bad this isn't on the front page of every newspaper.

Wow, my two crooks didn't make the list.

Naw, it won't happen. We're much too overwhelmed with the Brittany/OJ train wrecks.

Off topic - But I wonder if in 50 years, we'll be asked to choose from the Fat or Skinny Brittany Postage Stamp.

Dead on the toilet Brittany.

quote:

Originally posted by scwestusmc:
Geeeeeeeeee 90% plus (R). Could there be just a weeee bit O BIAS.?????????????????????

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Repo Bad Demo good right?

Possibly a bias, but it could just be who was caught this time. Once the other party has been in power for a while the list will be full of their names.

Going to D.C. & trying to figure out who's the most corrupt politician, is like going to a maximum security prison & trying to figure out who's the biggest felon.

I see there was a few from North Mexico err, sorry, New Mewco.

quote:

Originally posted by scwestusmc:
Geeeeeeeeee 90% plus (R). Could there be just a weeee bit O BIAS.?????????????????????

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Repo Bad Demo good right?

Reality has a liberal bias

bias

Just a sample.

Melanie Sloan, In 1994, Ms. Sloan served as Counsel for the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY). There, she drafted portions of the 1994 Crime Bill, including the Violence Against Women Act. In 1993, Ms. Sloan served as Nominations Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under then-Chairman, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE). Prior to serving in Congress, she was an associate at Howrey and Simon in Washington, D.C.

Naomi Seligman Steiner, Prior to joining CREW, Ms. Seligman Steiner was the communications director for the nonprofit, media watchdog group, Media Matters for America.

Kimberly Perkins, she served as Assistant General Counsel for the National Office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Dan Roth, There he researched and drafted reports on the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court and on a slate of other nominees to the federal bench.

Ryan Jham, Ryan worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Robin Powers,Ms. Powers also has interned with Vital Voices Global Partnership, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and various political campaigns.

B. S.

If Feinstein ain't on it, it ain't legit.

Where is Pelozi and Reid on the list?

quote:

Originally posted by RBruce:
Where is Pelozi and Reid on the list?

You heard it said, no liberal bias to this list.

Clinton has , supposedly, had to return $850,000 in contributions which are "tainted" and Connected to a Hong Kong Chinese person. She's not mentioned?

quote:

Clinton has , supposedly, had to return $850,000 in contributions which are "tainted" and Connected to a Hong Kong Chinese person. She's not mentioned?

Didnt her senate campaign get fines over 300k too.

What about that real estate scam back when ol'Billy Jeff was running for office? Oh speaking of Ol'Billy Jeff. Last night at work I was talking to a guy who was in the Navy back in the '90 and on the "Enterprise" (no not the NCC1701!) He was trying to remember the Carrier that was launched back then the hull was CVN69(later he remembered, "The Stennis") I said maybe it was named after Billy Clinton? He laughed and we both said good thing we weren't in the Military anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by SGTBJH:
What about that real estate scam back when ol'Billy Jeff was running for office? Oh speaking of Ol'Billy Jeff. Last night at work I was talking to a guy who was in the Navy back in the '90 and on the "Enterprise" (no not the NCC1701!) He was trying to remember the Carrier that was launched back then the hull was CVN69(later he remembered, "The Stennis") I said maybe it was named after Billy Clinton? He laughed and we both said good thing we weren't in the Military anymore.

See, you laugh now, but, it won't be too long before they start naming things for him, and then her.

quote:

Originally posted by transport1:

quote:

Originally posted by RBruce:
Where is Pelozi and Reid on the list?

You heard it said, no liberal bias to this list.

Come on guys. The list is only 25. Someone said before that they were all crooks and he is mostly right. There are some decent politicians at the local levels, but to make it to the national level requires a certain flair toward crookedness.