Filthy Lucre

CREW has released their annual assessment of the most corrupt members of Congress, and I certainly see some new faces as well as some old favorites. Democrats making the list are William Jefferson (for obvious reasons), John Murtha (who has a long history of questionable financial dealings), and a couple of reps. from West Virginia and Georgia I'm not familiar with. The other 18 are from the GOP, including Doolittle, Lewis and the infamous Ted Stevens.

In fact, Alaska has three elected officials on the 22-person list. Making it (to paraphrase a Bloom County strip from way back when) the proud land of "Keep those government yahoos out of my hair-- and hurry up with that federal bailout check!"

But one person making the list, a New Mexico Republican, almost gives me hope:

The former U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David Iglesias, stated that, in mid-October 2006, two members of Congress from New Mexico pressured him about an ongoing corruption probe of state Democrats. Apparently, Rep. Wilson first called Mr. Iglesias and Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) called a week later. After Sen. Domenici admitted that he called Mr. Iglesias, Rep. Wilson finally admitted that she too had called the U.S. Attorney.

By contacting Mr. Iglesias about an ongoing investigation, whether to pressure him -- as he believed -- or merely to request a status report, Rep. Wilson violated House rules and her conduct does not reflect creditably on the House.

I get the feeling that isn't enough to put her in the top 5% of this bunch. A bit of influence peddling? Pffft. Strictly small time.