Some scandalized lawmakers may be facing the boot Muriel Kane

Published: Tuesday November 4, 2008





Print This Email This As Americans head to the polls today, many of the issues that preoccupied them just two years ago -- like the Iraq War -- are nowhere on the horizon.



Roll Call (sub. req.) points out that the question of Congressional scandals is also notable by its absence. "Its a pale carbon copy of the issue it was two years ago," notes Roll Call contributing writer Stuart Rothenberg.



"The then-Democratic minority sought in the 2006 cycle to highlight Republicans' relations with lobbyists, including the disgraced Jack Abramoff, and used the 'culture of corruption' mantra as one of its primary campaign themes," Roll Call notes. "Bill Allison, senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, said that ethics is not playing a large part in national campaign talking points [in 2008] because both parties have ethical problems they would prefer not to talk about."



Ethics questions involving politicians of both parties could still play a role in individuals races, however. Some of the more ethically-challenged members have declined to run for re-election, often leaving their would-be successors of the same party at a disadvantage, while others face relatively minor charges that do not appear to be affecting their popularity.



However, several incumbents were highlighted by Roll Call as likely to be significantly impacted by ethics issues. Among them:

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) has just been convicted of a felony for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts, and his own party leaders have called on him to resign.



Sen. Don Young (R-AK) has been accused of improprieties involving federal earmarks and his ties to an oil services firm.



Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) has been the target of lawsuits alleging fraud and campaign finance violations at car dealerships he owns, though he still leads in the polls.



Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), who succeeded the scandal-plagued Mark Foley, now has his own sex scandal underway, involving multiple extramarital affairs.



Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) is still shadowed by his relationship with Jack Abramoff and faces a well-funded Democratic challenger.



Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is currently on trial for corruption and still has to deal with a primary runoff in his own party.



Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has been accused of evading financial disclosure rules through a donor's payment to a firm which employs his wife, but challenger Al Franken has his own problems with a tangle of unpaid, underpaid, and even overpaid income taxes.



Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is being probed by a House ethics subcommittee for financial disclosure issues, but is still expected to gain easy reelection.



Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) is in trouble over federal earmarks steered to a firm run by family members.

A complete list of the scandal-plagued lawmakers can be read in the full (sub. req.) Roll Call article here.





