Bad Politicians (by Tim Cox)

Half of all Americans believe most members of Congress are corrupt… and more than a third think their own representative is crooked, according to a 2006 CNN poll. An August, 2007 Gallup poll showed that only 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing—I’m surprised the number isn’t 1.8%. The problem reaches deep into both parties.

Consider the transgressions of some of our recently departed or departing congressmen. Mark Foley (R-FL) was found to have a fetish for teenage pages. James Traficant (D-OH) was convicted of bribery, tax evasion and fraud. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) was sentenced to 8 years for accepting over $2.4 million in bribes. William J. Jefferson (D-LA) was caught with $90,000 in cash “bribe money” hidden in his freezer, and has allegedly accepted much more. He has also been charged in a global campaign to solicit bribes, obstruct justice and engage in racketeering. His brother-in-law, Alan Green, a former state judge, was convicted of mail fraud in a bail bond corruption case in suburban New Orleans.

Year after year, career politicians like Rostenkowski (D-IL) and Delay (R-TX) only strengthen our negative attitude. Current House members seemingly wait in line, determined to degrade our trust even further. Bill Frist (R-TE) is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his sale of HCA Inc. stock, and has been accused of violating federal campaign finance laws. Harold Rogers (R-KY) is accused of repeatedly steering government contracts to companies in his district (e.g. NucSafe, Accenture, and Identification Card Industry), in one case securing a job for his son. Roy Blunt (R-MO) has been accused of trying to insert provisions into bills that would have benefited a client of his lobbyist son and the employer of his lobbyist girlfriend, who is now his wife. Richard Pombo (R-CA) reportedly paid his wife and brother $357,325 in campaign funds over the last four years. He also supported the wind-power industry before the Department of Interior without disclosing that his parents received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from wind-power turbines on their ranch.

Alcee Hastings (D-FL) was impeached and removed from his federal judgeship in 1989 for conspiring to take a $150,000 bribe and give light sentences to two convicted swindlers. He now serves us in the House, with new accusations being made. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been accused of funneling more than $1 million to family members through illicit deals. Allan Mollohan (D-WV) is accused of directing $250 million via earmarks to five nonprofit organizations that he created and are staffed by his friends. The Department of Justice is investigating. David Scott’s (D-GA) committee has reportedly disbursed $715,330 to his family, business, and himself. He is facing tax evasion charges and has been accused of misusing official resources for political campaign activity.

Charles Taylor (R-NC) is under scrutiny concerning a savings and loan he is involved with in his home state, as well as his personal business interests in Russia. Bob Ney (R-OH), John Doolittle (R-CA) and Tom Feeney (R-FL) have been linked to the Abramoff scandal and accused of other questionable activities; Doolittle for his ties to a convicted military contractor and his wife’s fundraising efforts, and Feeney for a real estate deal and vote-rigging software. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the former SBC executive who owns $500,000 in SBC stock options and received more than $75,000 from SBC and its employees, is under fire for agreeing to sponsor legislation that benefitted “nobody in this country except for the telecom and cable giants.” Jerry Lewis (R-CA) could be the next indicted Congressman given his relationship with lobbyist/friend Bill Lowery. Rolling Stone said, “Lowery and his clients made more than $480,000 in contributions to Lewis… Lowery's firm, in turn, tripled its revenue to $5 million—and his clients pocketed hundreds of millions in federal pork projects...” They even describe how past employees and even their wives have been hired by Lowery’s firm.

Even the leaders of both parties diminish our trust. John Murtha (D-PA), who was narrowly defeated as House Majority Leader, along with Jim Moran (D-VA) and Peter Visclosky (D-IN), have reportedly accepted $1,333,074 in campaign contributions from the PMA Group. PMA, a firm founded by a former Murtha worker, is believed to have walked away with $100.5 million in defense earmarks for their clients. Controversy is not new to Murtha; he was linked, but not indicted, in the 1980 Abscam scandal, which resulted in the convictions of a senator and six congressmen. He is currently facing ethics violations stemming from threats to block earmarks of other members for political purposes.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has not been accused of criminal behavior, but her efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy and the President have struck a nerve with Republicans. First, she visited Syria, giving legitimacy to Bashar al-Assad and his systematic murder of pro-Western Lebanese members of parliament. Then she was accused of aiding and abetting opponents of a very important free-trade agreement with the United States by sending a letter to Costa Rica's ambassador just nine days before a national referendum. Those efforts earned the ire of her critics, but her latest effort, an attempt to push a resolution denouncing Armenian genocide that occurred over 90 years ago as a way to cut off supplies for our troops, has lowered her stock with many in her own party. Her actions are not illegal, but is it any wonder our representatives are held in such low esteem?

Dennis Hastert (R-IL), House Minority Leader, despicably ignored the behavior of Foley and now is involved in a highly questionable real estate deal close to the Prairie Parkway, which of course he helped obtain funding for. Long-time Representative Don Young (R-AK), chief architect of the “Bridge to Nowhere” and master of earmarks, is reportedly involved in four separate federal investigations.

Rick Renzi (R-AZ) has stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee after his wife’s insurance agency was raided by the FBI and has just been handed a 35-count indictment that charges the congressman with wire fraud, extortion, money laundering and looting $400,000 from the trust account of a Renzi family business. Joe Baca (D-CA) is in hot water for allegedly calling Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez a whore. Bob Filner (D-CA) has been charged for allegedly pushing an airline employee. Jerry Weller (R-IL) will not seek reelection while under increasing pressure for alleged ethics violations.

I started this article intending to create a list of our worst ten representatives, but where do you start? We seem to have a new indictment or resignation before the proverbial ink has a chance to dry. Is it time to start over?

If we had a chance to hit the reset button and begin anew, would we? If we could elect an entirely new set of representatives, just as we did when our country was first formed, would we be better off? Most believe we would. Is it time to put our energy behind GOOOH (pronounced go), the non-partisan plan to evict all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and replace them with everyday Americans? I think it is.