Lew Waters
December 28, 2007
Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption released their List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2007 this week.
Surprisingly, the Top Ten includes a total of 4 candidates currently running for the office of President of the United States. Seven that made the list are Democrats, two are Republican and one, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby is not even a politician, but is aligned with the Republicans.
Arranged alphabetically, the list is comprised of, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).
Clinton made the list due to her ties to fugitive felon, Norman Hsu as well as potential involvement in scandals that plagued her husband's administration. Conyers earned his spot for the misuse of staff while on the government payroll. Craig, as all will recall, made it for his being caught up in a homosexual sting in an airport restroom.
Feinstein was included because of her seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction while her husband's company was being awarded Defense Contracts. Obama has shaky ties to questionable campaign contributions as well as suspicious business and political connections. Pelosi slid in because of pet projects to her home district as well as $25 million gift to her husband snuck in a bill recently passed. Pelosi, it should be remembered, promised a "new era of ethics enforcement in the House of Representatives."
Reid found himself on the list for his series of land development scandals. Giuliani couldn't escape the list after it was discovered he had "billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan," who also was provided with a police vehicle and a city driver at taxpayer expense.
Huckabee's career "has been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor's office," according to an AP source. Libby, not even a politician, merited mention because of his convictions in the Plamegate investigations and the president's subsequent commutation of his sentence.
Missing from the list was William Jefferson (D-LA), caught hiding $90,000 in marked bribe money in his freezer.
In the 2006 mid-term election, Democrat's ran largely on a platform to expose the Republican's Culture of Corruption, pointing fingers at every Republican possible while ignoring members of their own party caught in corruption or being investigated.
Earlier in 2007, Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan published their book revealing and documenting similar corruption by Democrats, Caucus of Corruption.
An interesting twist in the corruption story is that Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch, filed suit last year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the current president, Tom Fitton to "Fight Corruption Within His "Own" Organization!"
Corrupt politicians are nothing new. As long as public officials have easy access to fame and wealth from lobbyists and voters keep returning the same ones to office, corruption will thrive in politics. Self-policing seems to be more effected by partisanship than to uncover and eliminate actual corruption. Too often, those most corrupt appear to be passing judgment on those opposing them and covering up their own corrupt record.
Seeing Judicial Watch being sued over corruption while they make the claim of exposing corruption leaves one questioning whether the list was compiled to expose political corruption or to point fingers at candidates vying for their party's nomination.
The politicians on the list are indeed corrupt as stated. Of the 4 running for president, we stand a good chance of seeing one sitting in the Oval Office soon, unless we get passionate behind one of the long shots not noted for being so corrupt.
Lew |