He’s also going to be riding high in age as we approach '08 (72 by the election). Reagan was 69 when first elected, and it seems to me that he looked more robust then than McCain does now. McCainophiles, I share some degree of admiration for the man but if he runs it would be a big mistake.
As was noted, the Republicans control everything. With that being said, if you were to buy a Congressman, which party would give you the best return for your dollar? That’s why the list is dominated by the GOP.
Here’s an interesting site which lists members of Congress having family members on the federal payroll or serving as campaign staff.
And worse - those whose relatives have been hired by industry at high salaries to lobby Congress. One notorious example of this is Sen. Orrin Hatch, whose son has gotten paid large sums by the dietary supplement industry (Dad is a major protector of the industry and is largely responsible for the watering down of federal regulations governing supplements).
While the site in the OP heavily singles out Republicans, you will note that the Kith and Kin link listed above shows sleaze relatively evenly distributed among Democrats and Republicans.
Why not also name the guilty defense contractors, and bar them from ever doing business at the tax payers expense again?
I’m glad this guy got nailed - too bad it won’t have a long-term impact. Politicos will still seek gain in the same manner, and the companies/lobbyists “assiting” them will never have any incentive to stop. There should be criminal charges his - this kind of rot in bringing the country to its knees.
The firms in question are ADCS, Inc. and MZM, Inc. ADCS was raided and searched by agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, which probably means they’ll have tough times getting contracts in the future.
Puh-leeze. Santorum’s actions (attempting to direct the disposition of state assets to the benefit of specific private parties, under the label of “privatization”) is the sort of crony-capitalism crap that has poisoned attempts to introduce genunie free-market economies in much of the old Soviet Empire.
Getting a free pass in a situation where a member of the Teeming Millions not blessed with power and connections would get a trip downtown sounds corrupt enough to me.
Seems to me I recall a well connected company that continued to get more contracts even as scandal after scandal followed one after the other. Can’t recall the name. Halle Berry? No, that’s not it. Ricky Burton? Mmmm, nope…
That’s not corruption though. Corruption is the selling of one’s position, not a personal character flaw. Both may be shameful, but that does not make them equivalent.