Look ma! I can copy/ paste too! Rep. Pelosi recently had to pay a $21,000 fine for some campaign finance irregularities. While corruption plagues the Republican Party, Democrats have an irregularity problem. Perhaps the Dems shouldinvest in a few hundred gallons of Pepto Bismol. That'll nip their problem in the bud. Pelosi also went on an unreported trip to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, for "meetingswith government, military and business officials," according to a filing Pelosi signed June 30. The flights cost $3,400 each for Pelosi and her husband. The hotel cost was $940. The sponsor, which has picked uptrips for leaders of both parties, paid $300 for meals. Senator Dingy Harry allegedly took Abramoff money, but claims it was an Abramoff client's -- an Indian tribe's -- money, as if Jack Abramoff was distributing his own money to Republicans, but giving only Indian money to the Democrats. And we're supposed to be fooled by his obvious Clintonism. Members of both parties took the money and they didn't care about distinctions when they took it. He also feigned shock when he said he heard about the NSA spying program -- until he admitted on Fox NewsChannel that he was briefed on the program by the Bush White House. The man Rush Limbaugh says looks like an undertaker should be compelled to attend ethics management session. But that's small-time compared to Reid's real cash cow: In the last four years alone, firms with Reid family ties -- sons, sons-in-law, etc. --have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees. "So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist," the LA Times said. For instance, the Nevada Democrat once sponsored an environmental bill that he touted as a bipartisan measure to protect the ecosystem and help the economy in America's fastest-growing state.But as the Times reported: "What Reid did not explain was that the bill promised a cavalcade of benefits to real estate developers, corporations and local institutions that were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees to his sons' and son-in-law's firms, federal lobbyist reports show." Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), is now Governor Corzine of New Jersey, a state whose motto should be "The Best State Money Can Buy." While in the senate, and while campaigning for the governorship, Corzine gave an ex-girlfriend a gift of over $700,000.00. His ex -girlfriend just happened to be the head of New Jersey's largest government workers union. And her union just happened to endorse Corzine after the bribe...ooops...gift. Personally, I'd rather give my own ex-girlfriend heartburn not over a half-million bucks. Corzine also pushed and voted on legislation involving a Japanese bank that -- surprise -- benefited his friends and himself. He got merely a slap on the wrist for that one. Not because he did it, but because he failed to inform the other senators that he had a personal interest in passing the legislation. Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) is another holier-than-thou Democrat with ethics concerns. The House Ethics committee is considering investigating Rep. John Murtha for multiple ethics violations. The investigation would center on Rep. Murthaâs involvement with his brotherâs firm KSA Consulting. The story, which originally ran in the Los Angeles Times on 13 June, surrounds the 2005 appropriations bill that funded $20M to companies for which KSA Consulting lobbied. Murtha is a leader on the House Defense Appropriations Committee. An aide to Murtha, Carmen Scialabba, also works for KSA. Further reported by the LA Times is that KSA directly lobbied Murthaâs office for funding on behalf of 7 of its clients and that a Murtha aide advised a defense contractor that it needed to retain the services of KSA Consulting. Rep. John Moran (D-VA) is in a bind with the revelation -- at least in the local media -- "...that MBNA Corporation gave him a $447,000 debt-consolidation loan on what critics viewed as highly favorable terms. Moran was a crucial House supporter of a bill only four days before he signed on as a lead sponsor of the legislation that ultimately benefited MBNA Corporation. Both MBNA and Moran have denied that there was anything improper about the loan."
**crickets chirping** It appears that the Left believes improprieties are the sole domain of the Republican party.
Both sides of the aisle have their hands in the cookie jar and both sides have been caught. It does seem odd that you only hear about the Republicans getting caught but shit happnes and you have to live with it and hope that the population thinks enough to see through the bias in the news. I wonder how long this kind of stuff has been going on and if we are only really hearing about the majority of it now due to the easy access to information now days. I doubt that lapses in ethics are new to politics, its just that we the public never heard of them before since the information flow was not quite what it is today and the press of the past was not quite as rabid for any little piece of news out there.