Freshman House Members Flood List of Most Corrupt Members of Congress; Buchanan, Vitter and Waters Lead Old Guard

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Friday, September 23, 2011

Freshman House Members Flood List of Most Corrupt Members of Congress; Buchanan, Vitter and Waters Lead Old Guard

Rep. David Rivera

More than 25% of federal lawmakers deemed “most corrupt” by a government watchdog group are brand new to Congress.

“The 2010 midterm elections swept in a large freshman class,” noted the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), “but certainly didn’t produce more ethical conduct.”

In its seventh report on congressional corruption, CREW named 19 members of Congress, including 14 (10 Republicans and four Democrats) whose actions violated the law or who otherwise engaged in serious misconduct.

Fourteen of the 19 members on the list also are new to it this year, and six of those members are also newbies in Congress.

Some listed are familiar names to CREW. Florida Republican Vern Buchanan made the list in 2008 and 2009. He earned a spot in the 2011 edition for “witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and bribery,” according to CREW.

For veteran lawmaker Maxine Waters (D-California), who has served 11 terms in the House, this year’s report represents the fourth time she’s been singled out for corrupt behavior.

“In the midst of a national financial catastrophe, Rep. Maxine Waters used her position as a senior member of Congress and member of the House Financial Services Committee to prevail upon Treasury officials to meet with OneUnited Bank,” CREW stated, adding that the problem was “she never disclosed that her husband held stock in the bank.”

The only senator on CREW’s list of the 14 worst is Republican David Vitter of Louisiana who, having survived a previous scandal in which he admitted to frequenting prostitutes, is now dealing with charges of “his misuse of his official Senate personnel and office expense account allowances, and attempted bribery.”

However, when it comes to questionable behavior by a member of Congress, it’s hard to beat David Rivera, who represents Florida’s 25th District in the southwest corner of the state. Because of a variety of questionable financial activities and statements, Rivera is under criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office.

Here are CREW’s 14 worst:

Rep. Charles Bass (R-New Hampshire)

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Florida)

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tennessee)

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-New York)

Rep. Frank Guinta (R-New Hampshire)

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-New York)

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia)

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-California)

Rep. David Rivers (R-Florida)

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky)

Rep Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio)