Blagojevich, Rangel and Jefferson. It seems there is a run on Democratic corruption. Yet there was Ted Stevens and other Republicans also guilty. Whenever one’s party is caught the other just rationalizes that they all do it.

Well in American Thinker Randall Hoven writes in Parties of Corruption–

Which party is more corrupt? Maybe you’ve seen lists. The National Taxpayer’s Union has a pretty good list http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=343. The NTU’s gripe, though, is not which party is more corrupt, but that Congressmen who are convicted felons continue to collect their very generous congressional pensions.

The NTU’s list is of “Members of Congress Who Were Convicted of or Pled Guilty to Major Offenses, 1992-1999.” NTU staffers had to compile the list from Washington Post archives and Congressional Quarterly Yearly Almanacs. (It takes real work to compile an apples-to-apples, fair list.)

By my count: 15 Democrats, 3 Republicans. Since then, we can add James Traficant (D-OH) and Randall Cunningham (R-CA). Call the score 16 to 4, Democrats leading.

That would make Democrats 4 times (or 300%) more corrupt than Republicans.

If you have a better list, please let me know (randall.hoven@gmail.com). But please, make sure the list is apples-to-apples. The NTU’s list, for example, is only among US Congressmen and only for convictions of or guilty pleas to major offenses.

print