CREW’s seventh report on congressional corruption names 19 members of Congress – 14 members whose actions violated the law or who otherwise engaged in serious misconduct, and five others whose lack of regard for the rules earned them a dishonorable mention.  The 2010 midterm elections swept in a large freshman class, but certainly didn’t produce more ethical conduct.  A startling 14 of the 19 members on the list are new to it this year, and six of those members are also new to Congress.

Our definition of corruption goes beyond assessing whether someone technically violated a criminal law.  It encompasses public officials who fail to act responsibly and ethically, and who instead place personal or special interests before those of the public. 

The report, of course, doesn’t reflect the misdeeds of those who have left Congress.  Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), a Most Corrupt alumnus, resigned hastily this year.  He left just before a special counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics issued a scathing report concluding the evidence against him in connection with his attempted cover-up of an affair with a staffer “would have been substantial and sufficient to warrant the consideration of the sanction of expulsion.”  Reps. Christopher Lee (R-NY), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), and David Wu (D-OR), meanwhile, were quickly pushed out of Congress by House leadership after news broke of their salacious conduct.  

Some Most Corrupt veterans are missing this year either because no new action was taken by any law enforcement agency or the House and Senate ethics committees, or because CREW discovered no new information. Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Hal Rogers (R-KY), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) are repeat offenders. Sen. Vitter and Rep. Richardson are included for conduct unrelated to that which led to their inclusion in previous years.

We deserve better than this. The lack of enforcement of ethics laws and rules fuels cynicism about government at a time when it is already rampant.  An August 2011 poll of likely voters by Rasmussen Reports found 43% of voters view most members of Congress as corrupt – and that was the good news.  The number was down slightly from the previous month’s high of 46%.  Congress and the president both bear responsibility for this sorry state of affairs.  Members of Congress should stop offering pious speeches about the importance of ethics while failing to reform the toothless ethics process and rein in the influence of special interests.  The president should take the long-overdue step of naming new FEC commissioners to replace those whose terms have expired and who should no longer be serving.  Join CREW in calling for change and together, we’ll build a better Washington. 

Read this year's report