CREW Files Ethics Complaint Against Vito

Today CREW is taking Congressman Vito Fossella to task for his lack of ethics as a Congressman and thereby, a human being. Vito has been getting back into public life lately, but he shouldn't expect a free pass just because he has "learned his lesson." What Fossella has done is a ridiculous laundry list of screw ups that disqualifies him from public office.

From The Daily Politics:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington announced today it sent an ethics complaint against Rep. Vito Fossella to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct seeking an investigation into whether he violated any travel rules and/or the prohibition on conduct that reflects badly on the body.

"Given that the committee will already be consider Rep. Fossella's criminal conduct, the committee should take the opportunity to consider whether, by using taxpayer funded travel to pursue his romantic relationship with Lt. Col.Fay, Rep. Fossella violated House travel rules and the prohibition against conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan wrote.

"The committee should consider not only the trips previously reported, but also should investigate whether Rep. Fossella availed himself of other unreported congressional delegation travel opportunities in order to conduct his illicit affair...At the very least, Rep. Fossella should be require to reimburse the Treasury for the costs of his travel"

CREW knows it has no shot at getting the Committee to do anything, since one action would lead to 435 or more others. Ethics, credibility and accountability still have little say in the House of Representatives. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part, those things are sorely lacking.

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.