As long as we’re talking about scandals…

December 5, 2006

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline recently admitted to having a poor memory. “I may be missing someone,” Mirengoff said, “but the only high-profile administration offical [sic] I can think of who has faced criminal charges or had to resign in the face of scandal is Scooter Libby, who worked for the Vice President and who is not accused of corruption.”

And with that, the Josh Marshall, Justin Rood, and the TPM crew was off. As of this afternoon, they’ve come up with quite a list. It’s still being updated, but at last count…

* nine Bush administration officials fall under the “indicted/convicted/pled guilty” category;

* 13 Bush administration officials fall under the “resigned due to investigation” category;

* and three Bush administration nominees “failed due to scandal.”

Restoring honor and dignity? I don’t think so.

As long as we’re on the subject, though, I think it’s worth noting that the Bush gang, at least so far, can’t hold a candle to Reagan when it comes to scandals, indictments, and resignations.

In all, 32 Reagan administration officials were convicted of crimes in various political scandals under the president’s watch, including Iran-contra, arguably the most serious White House scandal since Watergate that nearly led to Reagan’s impeachment. (Two of the convictions were overturned on appeal and another was pardoned by H.W. Bush)

As Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau noted two years ago:

* Number of Reagan administration era convictions in the Iran-contra scandal: 14 (two overturned on appeal).

* Number of Reagan officials convicted for illegal lobbying: 2 (Michael Deaver; Lyn Nofziger, overturned on appeal).

* Number of Reagan officials convicted in Housing and Urban Development scandal: 16.

* Total number Reagan era convictions: 32

No president before or since oversaw a White House with so many criminal convictions. In fact, by way of comparison, there have been large organized crime families that have had far fewer convictions that the Reagan administration.

What’s worse, these convictions don’t even begin to include the dozens of other Reagan administration officials who narrowly avoided prosecution, but nevertheless left their positions in disgrace.

Over 30 additional Reagan appointees resigned or were fired following charges of legal or ethical misconduct, including Secretary of Interior James Watt, Secretary of Interior Raymond Donovan, CIA Director William Casey and EPA Administrator Anne Burford. Many dozens more were investigated.

And what our friend, Bill Clinton, who was rumored to lead a scandal-plagued White House? The only Clinton official indicted or convicted, after all of those multi-year, Republican-led investigations, was Asst. Attorney-General Webster Hubbell, who was convicted of embezzlement — a crime he committed before joining the Clinton Administration.

Something to keep in mind.

The thing to keep in mind is that we have a new and improved Congress (“Now, with oversight!”) that is sure to look into the egregious number of misdeeds perpetrated by this administration. The sky is the limit for potential convictions/ indictments/ resignations due to scandal and other black eyes. The only limiting factor on whether a record will be set is time and investigative manpower.

  • They have forgotten Cunningham, Ney, Noe, and the DeLay’s aides (forgot their names) who were indicted. Oh! Does Jack Abramoff count?

  • “In fact, by way of comparison, there have been large organized crime families that have had far fewer convictions that the Reagan administration.” – CB

    LOL.

    I suppose it HAS to be true? Depends on how you define ‘Large’.

    You missed one of Clinton’s.

    “Henry Gabriel Cisneros (born June 11, 1947) is a prominent American politician, businessman, and community leader. He was the first person of Hispanic background elected as mayor of a large American city, and later served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997. He left public office, after pleading guilty to making false statements to federal officials.”

    Now, hounded out of office unfairly I’ll buy, but the Republican’ts would say that about most of the people you cite here, especially the Iran-Contra scandelistas.

  • “They have forgotten Cunningham, Ney, Noe, and the DeLay’s aides (forgot their names) who were indicted. Oh! Does Jack Abramoff count?” – DA

    Congressmen and Lobbyists. They don’t count towards an Administration’s total.

    And like Raoul said…

  • Of course the list doesn’t include war crimes or violations of wiretap and domestic surveilance laws yet

  • Regean’s total will be blown out of the water by Bush Co.

    The only questions I have are

    1) Will they have the time to investigate all that needs investigating while still doing their jobs? Oversight is needed, but so are important changes like minimum wage, health care (which can be solved), fair and effective immigration reform, and a terrorism policy that works.

    2) Can it all be done in two years? I get the feeling it may take decades to unearth all the crap these clowns have done.

    Oh, and I’m sure a number of other Clinton officials resigned out of disgrace, didn’t they? I know there weren’t many prosecutions, but I thought a lot of folks had to jump ship. Of course, I was in college for most of the 90s and everything’s a bit … hazy (winkwinknudgenudgesaynomore), so maybe I’m wrong.

  • Considering they’ve only been at it 6 years, the Bush gang is on pace to exceed Reagan by 1.33 if they last two full terms. I’m guessing the .33 must be suspension without pay — or maybe Brownie, who left but was not charged for criminal negligence?

  • The Reaganesque leadership then (1978 – 1988) and now (1994 – 2006) has been operating like a sharp pickpocket who, while stealing a person blind (read the American public) points to an elsewhere place and yells “thief” to confuse even the most discernable observer as to what is actually going on. After witnessing these politicians-for-profit, I am inclined to begin to believe that Nixon was not a crook after all. He just made it easier for the crooks in his party to keep eating off the public trough. -Kevo

  • I agree that Bush will set the bar for all time, IF the Democrats can find a spine and do what needs to be done to restore America’s honor.

    And geezus cripes I hate Reagan worship. It’s a medal of stupidity that a lot of Americans wear with pride, and only gets worse with age. I always, always remind the idiots who sold the missiles to Iran, and then lied about it continually until they were cornered. Always.

    And Scooter Libby not being accused of corruption is somehow a good thing? I guess it’s worse to be accused of corruption than to be accused of lying to cover up the exposure of of a CIA agent who was on the front lines of the War On Terra, ending the career of someone who was trying to keep nuclear technology out of Iranian hands?

    Yeah, being greedy would be worse than deliberately killing a program designed to keep nukes away from “Islamofascists” (their term, not mine).

    Rationalize much?

  • How about those who resigned in the face of incompetence or whose nomination failed due to incompetence.

    Mike Brown – FEMA

    Harriet Meiers – SCOTUS nominee

    I’m sure there are many many many others…

  • Two convictions under Clinton? Hell, Whitewater netted 14 convictions alone. During the Clinton administration, 33 were either convicted or pleaded guilty.

    • Comments are closed.