Congress Critters at the trough.

We all have this vague feeling about politicians, that chances are they are either dirty, or lack the fortitude to follow through on all of those glorious promises they made. Maybe they don't have... what was that word Madeline Albright used... oh yeah... they don't have the cojones.

Then, it is not surprising that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) can always keep their list of the 15 Most Corrupt Members of Congress. One of the functions of the big losses that the Republicans took in 2008 is the fact that now the Democrats outnumber the Republicans on this list. As for this info, you might say that a little frog reminded me.

Nor is it surprising that there are four critters on that list from So Cal. Two white male Republicans (Jerry Lewis-41st CD and Ken Calvert 44th CD and two black female democrats (Maxine Waters 35th CD and Laura Richardson 37th CD). It might be a shock, however, that Richardson made it on to the list so quickly. You generally need to have been around Washington for 4 or 5 terms to be so honored.

I guess that this backs up what Alex says about the LA County Democratic Machine. Big City politics at it's worst turns out a string of self serving slickers and then keeps them in office solely because they are the incumbent.

At least we had a good Green make a run for the 37th CD when Richardson first got elected. I sure wish that Daniel had won.

The stench of sewage

When Carl Pope talked about the stench of sewage in S. California, he was not talking about the New River, though that is bad enough. This was about the connections between Republican politicians and business interests and where soon to be fired US Attorney Carol Lam was responsible for investigating and convicting "Duke" Cunningham.

Pope was particularly interested in the connections between Dick Cheney, Duncan Hunter and a project called Bajagua. This looks like another Dick Cheney no-bid contract waste of tax payer money. It would be more than interesting to know exactly how much money changed hands here.

It would also be a good thing to see the Green Party take a position in support of Carol Lam. Lam is just getting too close to too many Republican Politicians. After Cunningham, she has been investigating Jerry Lewis, once Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation and very much connected to the same people who were bribing Cunningham.

I ran in to the back story here while working against Richard Pombo last fall. When checking Pombo's actions in Congress connections appears to Jerrry Lewis, Duncan Hunter and John Doolittle (CA-4). All of us working on this campaign became familiar with those connections and shared our information as we found it. Then, downwithtyranny was very helpful to us as he continued his own fight against Cunningham's Republican successor, Brian Bilbray. He is now actively working to help continue Lam's work.