RAW STORY
Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-KY) were among the more prominent names on a list of the
“most corrupt” members of Congress released by a congressional watchdog
group on Wednesday.
The report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
names 13 lawmakers in all — six Democrats and 11 Republicans — for
allegedly breaking campaign laws or congressional ethics regulations.
Six of the people named in the report, including McConnell, have been
cited by CREW at least three times for possible violations.
“Why are we still talking about these six? If the Department of
Justice (DOJ), the House and Senate ethics committees, and the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) were doing their jobs, we wouldn’t be,” CREW
said in a statement accompanying the annual report.
“The glacial pace of investigations into misconduct means many cases
have dragged on for years and some have been dropped entirely with no
explanation, despite strong evidence.”
Bachmann, who announced in May 2013
she would not seek re-election, was named to CREW’s list as a result of
ongoing investigations by the Federal Election Commission, House Ethics
Committee, and Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly using
funds from her superPAC to pay campaign staffers, a violation of campaign finance laws.
McConnell was named in the report for the fourth time following the discovery of secret audio
from a February 2013 meeting in which members of his staff used
official resources to put together research on prospective political
opponents, which would break Senate rules.
Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Michael Grimm (R-NY), Gregory Meeks
(D-NY), Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Don Young (R-AK) were the other repeat
members of the list. Also named in the report were Reps. Paul Broun
(R-GA), Scott Desjarlais (R-TN)
Michael Grimm (R-NY), Hal Rogers (R-KY) and David Valadao (R-CA), as
well as Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Menendez
(D-NJ).
Four other House members — Reps. Bill Owens (D-NY), Peter Roskam
(R-IL), Aaron Schock (R-IL), and John Tierney (D-MA) were given
“dishonorable mention” status for allegedly using their office for
personal gain.
Read CREW’s report in its entirety below.
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