WHEN YOU DONATE TO A REPUBLICAN RUNNING FOR CONGRESS, THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE THE MONEY WILL GO TO LAWYERS TRYING TO KEEP HIM OUT OF PRISON

Last night Republicrook Tom DeLay, hawking the book someone wrote for him, was a guest on The Colbert Report. Colbert pointed out to the disgraced ex-Congressman, "You are my first indicted guest." Indictment, however, apparently doesn't prevent crooked legislators or ex-legislators, like DeLay, from using the money that was donated to their re-election committees for lawyer fees to keep their asses out of prison. Today's USAToday has a list of the 9 most notorious (after DeLay (who, of course, is #1).

This is a fluid list and at the rate Jerry Lewis has been spending on getting multiple U.S. Attorneys removed from his case, I suspect he has now overtaken DeLay. Of course, DeLay hasn't exactly stopped spending either.

Former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-TX $1,100,000
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-CA $905,800
Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-CA $570,000
Former Rep Bob Ney, R-OH $518,000
Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-IL $285,000
Former Rep. Mark Foley, R-FL $253,800
Former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT $160,376
Rep. John Doolittle, R-CA $149,200
Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-WV $140,000
Former Rep. Curt Weldon, R-PA $132,025

There are actually a couple dozen congressmen and ex-congressmen, almost all part of the Bush/DeLay DC Culture of Corruption, who are using campaign donations to try to keep out of prison. "While campaign donations may not be spent for personal use, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has ruled that fighting to stay out of jail is a legitimate political activity as long as the allegations of wrongdoing relate to conduct in office. The biggest spender still in Congress is Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, records show. His campaign paid $905,800 to law firms in the last two-year campaign cycle and the first three months of this year, records show. The Justice Department has been investigating his relationships with lobbyists and companies."

Right now John Doolittle (R-CA) and Rick Renzi (R-AZ) are spending like madmen, desperate to keep from being indicted and desperate to keep out of prison-- or at least from getting long sentences. Authoritative sources tell us Renzi is working out a plea bargain. Then there's the little matter of how these crooks keep their wives out of prison in the cases where wives-- or for Weldon, a daughter, or for DeLay, a wife and a daughter-- were accomplices to their crimes.