CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions, released a list of corrupt members of congress yesterday. Evidently, they have done this twice before making this the third annual release. This list is made up of the ‘most’ corrupt members of Congress. I am sure there are other corrupt members who have managed to escape this groups close scrutiny.
The group placed their list on their website beyonddelay.org, along with each members’ transgressions, as analyzed in light of federal laws and congressional rules, which, in their words, “documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress”.
“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. “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.”
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)
* These members, according to the group, are already under federal investigation.
That is a seriously long list for individuals who are supposed to be looking out for American citizens well-being.
Voter apathy is way too high, and it is individuals like this that feed the belief that no matter who we vote into office we are going to ultimately get screwed so why bother voting.
The American public is tired of putting people into public office who think that ‘voter trust’ is a license to financially better their own lives ahead of Americas best interest. You are put into ‘public’ office to advance the causes of the American citizenry, not to further your own selves at our expense. It does not matter how you justify your actions to yourselves or your constituents, if the American public looses as you gain then you are a corrupt public official and as such should be banished from holding any public office.
Please, curb your greed and put America first.
I applaud CREW’s effort to take on the responsibility to force oversight of these elected officials. Hopefully, those other members who read this list will think twice and check their conscience before committing any act that thickens the cloud of moral bankruptcy that hangs over the head of every American politician.
Let’s help this group further its efforts. If you find your representative on this list write them a letter. Be courteous and respectful of the office and inform the person that you learned of their transgression through CREW’s list and that you will not tolerate their behavior. Remind them of your power to vote against them in the next election. We may not have the power to predict who will go bad once they are in office but when we learn of those who did do bad then we do have the power to replace them.
For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565 or nseligman@citizensforethics.org.
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