CALIFORNIA IS #1-- IN TERMS OF CORRUPT REPUBLICANS STILL NOT IN PRISON

The Culture of Corruption fostered by the Republican Party's national leadership as an integral and systemic part of their dominance over American politics. And it is far from dead just because of the banishment from Washington of major progenitors Tom DeLay, Bill Frist and Rick Santorum. This morning CREW-- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington-- released a well-documented new report, Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch).
This is the third such report CREW has released on the "egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress."

The "two to watch" are David Diapers Vitter (R-LA) and Larry Craig (R-ID) and there are 4 other senators on the list of the two dozen slimiest members of Congress, Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici (R-NM), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Ted Stevens (R-AK). The rest are a gaggle of House members, 4 Democrats and 14 Republicans.

Although Alaska has the distinction of being the only state with 100% of it's congressional delegation on the list, it is California that has the most unethical and corrupt members. California congressmen currently under investigation include crime kingpin Jerry Lewis, about-to-be-indicted John Doolittle, and 3 southern California crooks: Duncan Hunter, Ken Calvert, and Gary Miller.

The full list of the crookedest of the crooked is at the CREW page. Meanwhile many of the most corrupt members of the House have been subpoenaed to testify at the trial of Brent Wilkes, one of the Republican contractors/rainmakers who has been charged with over 30 counts of bribery, fraud, etc in connection with the Duke Cunningham (R-CA) case. The spillover is most likely to result in prison terms for Denny Hastert (R-IL), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA), although other corrupt congressmen being dragged into this also include Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jerry Weller (R-IL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), John Doolittle (R-CA)-- I mean what list of crooks would be complete without the Doolittle name on it?-- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and a few Democrats who have also been beneficiaries of the military-industrial complex's generosity (John Murtha, Ike Skelton, Silvestre Reyes, and Norm Dicks).

All of the lawmakers said they do not intend to comply with the subpoenas.

The subpoenas from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California were read on the House floor late Monday in accordance with House rules requiring lawmakers to inform the House speaker if they've been subpoenaed.

All the lawmakers said in notifications to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that after consulting with House attorneys they had decided not to comply with the subpoenas.