The 15 Most Corrupt Members of Congress


Published on CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress
http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/report


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CREW’s fifth annual report on congressional corruption includes 15 members of Congress, significantly fewer than last year’s report. While corruption has remained a significant political issue, many elected officials seem to be taking greater care to avoid unethical conduct.

The list shrank primarily because out of the 24 members included in last year’s report, eight are no longer in Congress and seven others were omitted either because no action was taken by any law enforcement agency, or the House or Senate ethics committees, or CREW discovered no additional information to add. New to this year’s list are Senators Roland Burris and John Ensign, and Representatives Nathan Deal, Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Pete Visclosky. After having been off the list for two years, Rep. Maxine Waters has reappeared for unethical activities entirely unrelated to the conduct that landed her on the list in the past.

Of this year’s list of 15, at least 12 are under some sort of investigation: Vern Buchanan, Roland Burris, Ken Calvert, John Ensign, Jesse Jackson Jr., Jerry Lewis, Alan Mollohan, John Murtha, Charlie Rangel, Laura Richardson, Pete Visclosky and Don Young.

This year as every year, members have used their positions to financially benefit themselves, their friends and their families. Earmarks for large campaign contributors are commonplace and many members have traded legislative assistance for personal favors.

Although ethics reforms measures were passed last Congress and the House created the new Office of Congressional Ethics, there still appears to be little enforcement of ethics rules. In the Senate, Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were not disciplined in any way for their participation in Countrywide Financial’s VIP loan program. The Senate Select Committee on Ethics sank to an all time low, holding itself -- rather than the senators themselves -- responsible for the senators’ accepting the loans. The Senate Ethics Manual is readily available and it clearly states that loans can be improper gifts. If CREW can read and understand the manual, presumably, senators can too.

As always things are worse in the House, which consistently refuses to condemn any lawmaker’s conduct no matter how outrageous. The investigation of Rep. Rangel, which was only initiated at the lawmaker’s request in the first place, has dragged on for a year with no end in sight. If the committee ever sees fit to release any sort of report regarding Rep. Rangel’s many misdeeds, expect the ethics panel to use the occasion as a “teaching moment,â€