Democratic Political Corruption in DC

Ok, lots of people keep $90,000 in their freezer. And lots of people use their official office to funnel vast amounts of money to non-profits groups they founded. What's the big deal?

The big deal is that these are both uncommon occurrences. No one with $90,000 in cold cash keeps it in the fridge. If you're going to keep that kind of cash around, you're going to have a wall or giant fireproof safe. Plus, not only having the bribe on tape, but having Congressman William Jefferson joke about evading any FBI investigation does not help Democrats in their quest to tie the corruption issue around the necks of Republicans.

It also doesn't help, that their top member of the Ethics Committee is being investigated for corruption in using his position on the Appropriations Committee to reward his family, friends, supporters and non-profits.

What's likely to happen now that the issue is becoming bi-partisan is that Repubicans can go after Dems for corruption. And there are enough of them that have been lobbyists or engaged in dubious financial issues that Dems could be in for a rough ride. I bet RNC opposition researchers are already looking through annual financial disclosure forms are well as lobbying clients registrations and possible ties to Jack Abramoff.

The Delicious Irony of Bribery Taxes

I love the government's sentence of Duke Cunningham (The Republican Chairman of one of hte powerful Appropriations Subcommittees) for bribery. Not only does he go to jail for 8 years and 4 months, he has to pay $3.5 million in "penalties, restitution, and back taxes." It's the back taxes part that really pleases me: essentially all his bribe money (which he has to pay back) was also undeclared income which means he never paid taxes on it. He now has to pay taxes, interest and penalties on all of that money. That's like getting punished twice for the same crime - which he deserves for betraying the public trust.