The Scholars Of Congressional Corruption

It takes a lot to make it to the upper crust of corrupt elected officials. It is so easy to be sucked into the greed and filth that even the most virtuous of politicians are looked at with a questionable eye. Nevertheless, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington was able to make their third annual list of the top 25 most corrupt members of the 110th Congress. Since CREW is non-partisan, they were more than willing to list them by what they did and not what party they belong to. Of course, most do have elephants next to their names.

From CREW:

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.”

The Beltway has provided quite a comfortable set of cushions for ethically-challenged politicians over the last five ten twenty slew of years. For too long, their greed has been left unchecked. Thankfully we have organizations like CREW and others to expose these bastards and what they are doing. It won't end overnight or even next year, but continuing to report on unethical behavior will eventually start to clean things up in the swamp that is Washington.