CREW Reveals The Most Corrupt Candidates Of The Cycle

Yesterday CREW unveiled its nonpartisan list of this year's worst crooks running for election. "CREW's Crooked Candidates, the write, "highlights 11 candidates with scandal-littered pasts and histories of questionable ethics [and] focuses on office-seekers who have engaged in unethical and, in one case, even criminal conduct. Their misdeeds range from quid pro quo schemes to abusing state office for the benefit of friends and donors, to an obscenity charge. I don't understand how Ken Calvert, who even Fox thinks is the most corrupt member of Congress missed the Top 11, but I was happy to see CREW brave enough to go after crooked Democratic Rep.-- and Senate candidate-- Kendrick Meek, who many so-called "good government" types have let slide because he's vaguely progressive in his voting record. But, of course, most of the perps are egregiously corrupt Republicans like Roy Blunt (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dino Rossi (R-WA). How they missed David Rivera (R-FL) is troubling.

I'd like to focus on one of the worst of CREW's worst miscreants: Arkansas congressional candidate, Timothy Griffith, who has been discussed before in these pages. CREW's carefully researched report on the corporate Republican shill running in AR-02 (Little Rock) for the seat being given up by Democrat Vic Snyder:

Mr. Griffin was a former aide to and protégé of notorious political operative Karl Rove. In the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Griffin was the research director of the RNC where he may have spearheaded Republican vote caging efforts, a legally questionable direct mail campaign to disenfranchise poor, minority and military voters.

Mr. Griffin was most prominently touched by scandal when he was picked to replace a U.S. Attorney in Arkansas who, despite being highly regarded, had been asked to resign. Emails between the Justice Department and the White House revealed that despite his lack of prosecutorial experience, the selection of Mr. Griffin was personally important to Mr. Rove. Knowing that he would never pass muster at a Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for an indefinite time period under a misused, emergency provision of the PATRIOT Act.

Mr. Griffin resigned effective June 1, 2007, after less than six months on the job and in the midst of an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into the political motivations behind the U.S. Attorney scandal.

One of Blue America's most important endorsements this year is Arkansas Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott, an outstanding progressive champion of working families, who's running for Snyder's old seat-- with Snyder's full and enthusiastic blessing. Blue America endorsed her and if you'd like to contribute to her campaign, you can do it here at our ActBlue page. Last night I reached out to a campaign spokesperson we had heard about CREW's bombshell.

It certainly should give the voters of Arkansas pause to know that a person like Tim Griffin, who by his own words is running to clean up Washington, has a record of such unethical behavior that he would be named to a top ten list of "the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010."  To be named to a bi-partisan list of the most unethical candidates running for office in 2010, is certainly not the type of bi-partisan record of accomplishment that voters in Arkansas will reward in November.