At yesterday’s White House press briefing, ABC’s Terry Moran was brave enough to ask the question that had to be asked: “Is the President concerned that there’s a stench of corruption around the Republican establishment in Washington?” Scott McClellan, whose briefing began shortly after DeLay’s indictment was announced, was hardly in a position to dismiss the notion out of hand.
“Terry, I don’t think you can make such a broad characterization. There are some instances of individual situations.”
True, but when we count up the “individual situations” it makes it a lot easier to make a “broad characterization.” Following up on a point I raised over the weekend, let’s see who’s under investigation…
Obviously, there’s former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who’s facing a criminal charge in Texas as well as a House Ethics Committee probe. His Senate counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, is the subject of formal investigations by the SEC and the Justice Department. Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) is in a world of legal trouble, while Rep. Robert Ney (R) looks like he’ll need some good lawyers very soon.
On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, David Safavian, the White House’s top federal procurement official has been arrested. All the while, an ongoing criminal investigation is proceeding over potentially illegal leaking of classified information, and the focus remains on Karl Rove.
Out in the states, former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R) was convicted in a massive corruption case; former Illinois Gov. George Ryan’s (R) corruption trial begins today; current Ohio Gov. Bob Taft (R) has already been convicted of one corruption charge; Missouri Gov. Matthew Blunt (R) campaign irregularities were recently referred to the state attorney general’s office for an investigation; and Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) is the subject of an ongoing investigation for illegal hiring.
“Stench of corruption” sounds like as good a description as any.