Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has identified four Congressmen-elects as “Most Corrupted Members of Congress.”
- Roy Blunt, the newly-elected Republican Senator from Missouri, accepted over $217,000 in campaign donations from Philip Morris/Altria, where his then-girlfriend Abigail Perlman was working as a lobbyist. Just before leaving his wife to marry Perlman, Blunt tried to pass a provision to help the company (at the expense of its competitors) in a Homeland Security bill. He also used his weight to add earmarks to benefit one of his sons in legislation, and secure campaign donations when his second son ran for governor of Missouri,
CREW reports. As if that weren’t enough, He is also accused of being in cahoots with Jack Abramoff.
- Timothy Griffin (R-Ark.) will take seat in the House of Representatives during the 112th Congress. CREW accuses him of “Republican vote caging efforts, a legally questionable direct mail campaign to disenfranchise poor, minority, and military voters” during the 2004 presidential election. He was also appointed U.S. Attorney in Arkansas under a provision of the PATRIOT Act that did not require his appointment to be confirmed by the Senate. He resigned less than six months later after the House Judiciary Committee began an investigation into appointment and the surrounding politics.
- Florida voters are sending Marco Rubio (R) to the Senate despite his current implication in a federal criminal investigation into his misuse of state party funds, and admitting to double-billing for personal expenses. He provided Florida International University with $29m as he prepared to accept a part-time teaching position with the university once he left office. Sen.-elect Rubio has been caught time and again misappropriating funds and passing legislation benefiting his biggest donors, yet has managed to make it to the U.S. Senate.
- Allen West (R-Fl.) is a Floridian transport into the House of Representatives. West formerly served in Iraq as an Army Lt. Col. , until he was “stripped of his command and forced to resign” for excessive interrogation techniques, though interrogations were not part of his job, CREW reports. Mr. West’s service record let him off with a slap on the wrist, though a military tribunal found him worthy of court marshal.
