Washington’s Most Corrupt List, 2010
It doesn’t seem to matter how much house cleaning voters do in the legislature; year after year, the corruption gets worse.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has released its report on the “most corrupt” politicians for 2010. Not surprisingly, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) make the list. Waters stands accused of obtaining millions in TARP money for the bank OneUnited, on whose board her husband once sat, and in which he owned more than $350,000 in stock. Yet even as Rep. Waters awaits trial for her offenses, voters in California’s 35th District keep sending her back to Washington. She’s currently serving her tenth term.
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) makes the list after being formally censured last December for “financial misconduct” that includes “misleading” financial disclosures and failing to pay property taxes. He also took corporate-paid trips to the Caribbean and traded legislative access for donations to his Rangel Center at City College.
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) currently enjoys his eighth term in Congress in spite of investigations that he allegedly agreed to raise money for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.
Drunk with power, arrogantly self-serving, and full of hubris, America’s legislators in both parties seem as corrupt and unethical as ever. Two-term Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) makes the list for “purchasing land in Alaska for a price below market value, accepting a mortgage on terms not available to the general public, and for failing to accurately disclose the transaction.” Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is only in his first term but that didn’t stop him from soliciting prostitutes via the “D.C. Madam,” not surprising since Vitter was also apparently a long-time customer of Jeanette Maier, the “Canal Street Madam.”
Perhaps the corrupt Congressmen keep getting reelected because their constituents don’t know about what they have been up to.
Ignorance, amorality, stupidity, emotional disturbance, malice all seem to play a part in the re-election of moral cripples. The elected one represents the level of virtue and intelligence found in his constituency, ie, rangelites elect Rangels, etc.
The solution is to restrict the franchise to the virtuous and intelligent, probably an impossible task. Ah, well! Shall one consider relocation? Costa Rica? Philippines? Singapore? Someplace warm, safe and inexpensive?
And don’t forget…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-04/clarence-thomas-criminal-behavior-on-financial-disclosure/?cid=hp:mainpromo3
What’s your take on el presidente violating his oath of office by refusing to enfore DOMA and ignoring a judges order that Obamacare is unconstitutional? Should he be impeached or not a big deal?
If not, then would you support the next Rep president abolishing abortion at his whim and throwing every last one of them murderers in prison?
How about his abolishing the EPA and handing out nuclear power plant and oil drilling permits like candy? THOUSANDS OF THEM.
How about his Congress abolishing the EPA and handing out nuclear power plant and oil drilling permits like candy? THOUSANDS OF THEM.
Yes, please!
Wow! Austin ain’t 100% liberal!!
Maybe thar’s a glimmer of hope…
Whats your take on this one? Surely you have some kind of righteous indignation at willfully ignoring the constitution. Nah, your kind dont support the consitution.
democrat admits he know how to get past an earmark ban
I’m still waiting for Congress to even start investigating Maxine Waters, let alone throw her out of office (which would never happen). Strange, though, black congressional members like Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel and Jesse Jackson Jr. barely even get investigated, but nobody seemed to have any trouble in throwing Randy “Duke” Cunningham in jail, and fast, too. Could it be because Cunningham was white AND a Republican? Even the black Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, who was actually caught by the FBI with thousands of dollars in his freezer, took years to convict. But I’m sure this is just a coincidence and that an Attorney General like Eric Holder would be right on top of any form of corruption in Congress, even if the person charged with the corruption was black. Sure. You’d also have to believe that Osama bin Laden will be raising pigs in Georgia soon, too.
Georgia wont have him or his pigs. Our pigs here have more class,.
The problem is that the Ethics Committee will not prosecute members who are doing the same thing they are. Only when a civilian committee is formed will this cesspool of lawbreakers be eliminated.
Congresscritters ARE civilians.
Try again.
How is it that everybody who has been in congress for more than a couple of years is independently wealthy, most fabulously so?
Maybe they all have really good investment advisors, or maybe they are just good savers.
Yeah, that’s it–they’re good savers!
Truth is there is an egregious lack of character in today’s political class. Essentially they are all lawyers that didn’t have enough integrity to chase ambulances anymore so they ran for office.
Two words: Term limits.
Three words: Romanian Term Limits
I think a lot of voters who re-elect these characters believe they’ve weighed the candidates’ corruption against what the candidates have “done for the community” and found the balance acceptable. In some places there’s also a fundamental belief that “their” candidate is being unfairly persecuted while other, more corrupt pols get a pass. In those cases, the dishonest local candidate is seen almost as a Robin Hood type of outlaw, fighting the powers-that-be on behalf of his constituents. And if he skims a little for himself here or there? Hey, everyone’s just trying to get by…
What it amounts to is, if a politician brings in enough jobs, aid money, etc. – or greases enough palms – voters are willing to forgive just about anything. Marion Barry of DC is the textbook example. I imagine his antics are nothing compared some of the s**t these Congress people are into.
It’s what happens inside the beltway. No matter the noble intentions, after swimming in the cesspool long enough the corruption soaks into the bones and they become part of the problem. They can’t help it. The only way to prevent it is to enforce term limits by voters. Which as noted above, will never happen.
So we either continue the status quo or we impose term limits and eventually run out of quality people to run for the positions.
I’m seeing the sun setting on the great American Empire.
I would do it if I had the kind of free hand that they have. My goal in life is to someday have income from unreported sources, or like these politicians have an enforcement agency look the other way. But right now I am taking money out of savings to pay federal income taxes because I did not withhold enough. Cheers to all the corrupt politicians, sad for the rest of that play by the rules. For now.
I question the inclusion of people like Vintner on this list. Patronizing escorts is not the same thing as Charlie Rangel’s tax cheating or Waters/Murkowski receivingspecial favors. I would rather have my representative patronizing prostitutes then taking bribes.
Amen.
Better him screwing hookers than his constituents. Much as I despise elliot spitzer, I didnt have a problem with the bimbo.
“…the leftist Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington put 10 Dems on their “most corrupt” list, including Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel.”
Racists, they bias against Charlie and Maxine because of their skin color.
Racist, doubt it, they are just corrupt pols with a fondness for other peoples money, unless of course you were calling maxine and her buds racist, that I can believe.
The fact that you have not included Sen. Dodd’s name is very much appreciated. He would like to be gifted with an all-weather tennis court and swimming pool at his Irish mansion and inclusion on your list might have influenced that process.
How in the world did Harry Reid not make the list. Here is a guy who was brought up literally in the middle of nowhere. “Searchlight” Nevada is a one time mining town that is on the road to nowhere. So how does a guy from a little town, elected to national office, suddenly…well over the years…come to be worth millions and millions of dollars.
The milliions amassed by Reid was from the years as a private practice attorney. I think it was 2 years if I remember his response in the debate with Angle correctly. The indian reservations understood that and went big for him, maybe even bigger than the number of registered voters. Too funny.
Like it or not, libertarians, it’s the morality, stupid.
This obvious corruption is just a minor symptom of the same massive underlying cause that put us on the road to bankruptcy.
This is why “fiscal conservatives” and libertarians are so wrong. No system of government can continue to function in the absence of a pervasive morality. It need not be unanimous, but it must be the societal norm.
We are seeing the collapse of our economy precisely because of the lack of morality, not because of fiscal policies. Our legal system, our courts, our civilian governments at all levels, and our fiscal policies alike either stand or fall on a foundation of morality, either good or bad.
Where’s the entire list?
http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/
I am the author of the the only biography on Harry Reid (Harry: Money Mob and Influence – on Amazon). The book details a history of bribes starting with his old campaign manager who has taken a lie detector that he picked up bags of cash from pimp Joe Conforte of the Mustang Ranch brothel in the 70s. The payoffs don’t stop there, but continue into the present. The corruption can’t be explained in this small a box, more is at the above website. I believe this information needs to be taken into account in any list of corrupt politicians, I have been ignored by the local media but not refuted and I guarantee my sources are sound. The problem is everyone is afraid of Harry, even as adled and decrepit as he now is.
Mr. Brown,
I will definitely pick up your book. Thank you for your post.
Roger, some posters have said and I echo their sentiment. It’s these parasites CONSTITUENTS who continue to behave in dhimmitude-like manners.
The very same group-think of folks who placate most or all blame for their children’s poor test scores, attitude to the public schools.
Don’t get me wrong. The public education system is greatly flawed. However, parents have as much to blame if not more so for their child’s woes. Though this places responsibility on the parents shoulders and ‘we can’t have that’.
The ‘class’ our forefathers espoused compared to today’s, ahem, ‘representation’ is PROOF how far they and we have fallen as educators and as a Democratic Republic. Disgraceful.
Crime boss. Nothing less. Despicable human being. Sold out a state, a religion, morality for money. Below contempt. People think he’s too stupid to be evil. They’re wrong.
Just to mention that good politics and media together offer splendid reading for upcoming community newspapers in this make ready for election year. Here’s the place to put these off color statistics and make personal comments to boot. If anything gets read in a local paper, it is the letters to the editor, want ads, and the sports sections! Here’s the chance to chime in personal opinion and offer the link for further reading! It may even break a re-election trend gone mad. It’s a critical citizen need to know effort!
No more of this Censure Bullshit – Criminal Charges! Congressmen/women, All elected officials, Law enforcement Officers, basically ANYONE in a position of power needs to held to a HIGHER Standard of Accountability. Put them in Prison if they break the Law. Period. Full stop.
Also TERM LIMITS. Rangel would be GONE now.
It never ceases to amaze me that Elected Officials retire from long service Greatly enriched from when they first were elected. WTF? Insider Trading ring a bell? TERM LIMITS
The criticism of Murkowski’s sweetheart deal is contaminated by an old error, namely that value is something which inheres in a physical thing, in this case a plot of land. But the fact that even just two different people can desire it unequally should be enough to suggest to you that the concepts of “appraised value” and “true market values” are hoaxes.
And no, it’s not true that a thing is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. That’s merely the fallacy used in a different way. The critics need to reframe their criticism without employing the fallacy of objective value to support it.
If we had term limits none of these crooks would still be in office.
You left off Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine. Democratic Socialist, former Common Cause President, who railed against “fat cats” and their private jets. That is until Ms Pingree was found to have been using the private jet of hedge fund fat cat Donald Sussman (Greenwich, CT). Now she claims Sussman as her fiancee and says you can’t help “who you fall in love with”, and what do you want me to do, bill my constituents for flying commercial.
Maxine Waters and OWS Mitigate Rape
The perverse, violent act of raping a girl or woman has always and rightly been considered a vile, reprehensible crime in civilized societies.
Many Muslim nations either condone rape or place such burdensome sharia restrictions on the victim that it’s not worth the effort of reporting, but that’s another story un-related to civilized societies.
Based on her blase’ attitude toward the crime of rape, as well as toward assault and thievery, Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters could very well be a closet Muslim as could the Occupy Wall Street crowd.
You may recall the 73 year old Mad Maxine, former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and representative of California’s 35th CD. She’s the staunch defender of looters whom she believes are simply “mamas trying to buy diapers” and riot as “the voice of the unheard” and who last August told conservatives where to go when she said, “The Tea Party can go straight to hell!”
Mad Max has a way with words, a toxic way but a way. Wanting Republicans to “walk the plank” may have been metaphorical but there is no mistaking her hell suggestion nor her 2005 comments on President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney: “The President is a liar. Dick Cheney, the chief architect of the Big Lie, is not only a liar, he is a thief.”
The representative of Rodney King’s hellish district has less emphatic views on rape and other ongoing criminal activities at OWS demonstrations which she dismissed with the comment, “that’s life and it happens.”
A fierce opponent of flag-waving though not greed, Waters was named on a list of corrupt congresspeople on various occasions and cited as congressional “Porker of the Month” in June, 2009 by Citizens Against Government Waste. Not unsurprisingly and much like President Barack Hussein Obama, she is an enthusiastic supportor of all things liberal. Both back the OWSers to the hilt even if, umm, stuff happens in their midst.
And a lot of stuff is happening during those protests, including muggings, robberies, overdoses, and sexual attacks on both men and women. . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=6011.)