When Is A Little Garden Variety Corruption Congressmen Love So Well Actually Bribery?

Jeff Flake's crusade to get the House Ethics Committee to investigate corrupt Pennsylvania Congressman Jack Murtha has no credibility because it is so partisan. Had Flake recommended a joint investigation of tobacco company lobbyist John Boehner and Murtha, his oft-introduced bill would have been far more compelling. Although few of his hypocritical Republican colleagues would have supported it. Or how about an investigation into the correlation between the half dozen House members who have had the most responsibility for giving the banksters free rein to loot the economy and those who have taken the biggest, fattest, juiciest legalized bribes from the financial/insurance/real estate sector?

Charlie Rangel (D-NY- $4,276,926)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL- $3,789,474)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA- $3,185,464)
Eric Cantor (R-VA- $3,121,188)
John Boehner (R-OH- $3,045,809)
Earl Pomeroy (Blue Dog-ND- $2,810,794)

Now that's bipartisan: three corrupt Democrats and three corrupt Republicans. If Flake is really so anti-corruption why not do something that makes sense and has a chance to actually inspire the public-- if not the members of Congress... who have, after all, been rather loathe to cut off their own sources of bribery?

Late yesterday The Hill reported that two reform-minded Democratic sophomores, progressive Paul Hodes (D-NH) and reactionary Gabby Giffords (Blue Dog-AZ) are co-sponsoring a far fairer and more reasonable bill than Flake's transparent stunt to target one corrupt Democrat. I mean if you want to single out corruption, Jack Murtha, as slimy as he may be, is certainly no match for crooked Californians Jerry Lewis, Gary Miller and former and future lobbyist Brian Bilbray. Hodes' and Giffords' bill doesn't single out anyone. It simply seeks to "prevent lawmakers from taking campaign contributions from entities for which they have requested earmarks, as well as the entities' lobbyists and employees."

Let's see how many Republican crime fighters sign on to that one! Not that it matters; the current Supreme Court is so stacked with corporate shills, that this law would be struck down as fast as they could get their hands on it.


UPDATE: Tom Perriello Explains Why He Signed On As A Co-Sponsor

Last year Blue America endorsed and helped raise contributions for Tom Perriello who went on to beat corrupt Virginia reactionary Virgil Goode. Tom has been an ethics hawk and was one of the few Democrats to support Flake's resolutions. “While I’m living up to my commitment not to accept contributions from corporate PACs or lobbyists, I think the entire Congress should be held to a higher standard,” said Perriello. “We must demand a new era of honesty and accountability in Washington and on Wall Street to get this country back on course.”