Indictments, investigations and allegations of wrongdoing have helped put at least 15 Republican House seats in jeopardy, enough to swing control to the Democrats on Tuesday even before the larger issues of war, economic unease and President Bush are invoked.
With just five days left before Election Day, allegations are springing up like brushfires. Four GOP House seats have been tarred by lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence-peddling scandal. Five have been adversely affected by then-Rep. Mark Foley's unseemly contacts with teenage male House pages. The remaining half a dozen or so could turn on controversies including offshore tax dodging, sexual misconduct and shady land deals.
Not since the House bank check-kiting scandal of the early 1990s have so many seats been affected by scandals, and not since the Abscam bribery cases of the 1970s have the charges been so serious. But this year's combination of breadth and severity may be unprecedented, suggested Julian E. Zelizer, a congressional historian at Boston University.
For more than a year, Democrats have tried to gain political advantage from what they called "a culture of corruption" in Republican-controlled Washington. Republican campaign officials insist the theme has not caught on with the public, but even they concede that many individual races have been hit hard.
"So many different kinds of scandals going on at the same time, that's pretty unique," Zelizer said. "There were scandals throughout the '70s, multiple scandals, but the number of stories now are almost overwhelming."
This is a fascinating comparison. The WaPost just goes down through the list of Republican congressmen who have been tainted by scandal. Just look at the list here:
Mark Foley (Fl.) resigned due to sexually explicit emails with a teen male page.
Tom DeLay(Tx.) resigned due to Texas state investigations of corruption and money laundering.
Bob Ney (Oh.) pleaded guilty to corruption involving the Abramoff scandal.
Curt Weldon (Pa.) is being investigated for steering lobbying contracts to his daughter.
Don Sherwood (Pa.) is being "dogged by the settlement of a lawsuit filed by a mistress who charged that Sherwood had throttled her."
Rick Renzi (Ariz.) is being investigated in a land deal for a business partner and political benefactor.
Jon Porter (Nev.) is embroiled in charges of illegal fundraising calls being made from his congressional offices.
Richard Pombo (Ca.) has been linked to the Abramoff scandal.
John Doolittle (Ca.) has been linked to the Abramoff scandal.
Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) has been linked to the Foley cover-up.
Deborah Pryce (Oh.) is the House Republican Conference chairman. Her inaction to the Foley matter has been raised.
Sue Kelly (N.Y.) is linked to the Foley scandal.
Heather Wilson (N.M.) is linked to the Foley scandal.
Vern Buchanan (Fl.) has been targeted by local media reports of his using business entities in Caribbean tax havens to reduce levies of his auto dealerships.
John Sweeney (N.Y.) is under police investigation for knocking his wife around during a late night argument, according to an Albany Times Union article that was published yesterday.
Chris Shays (Conn.) is confronted with media reports on his 2003 trip to Qatar, which has also been linked to the Abramoff scandal.
In addition to the Republican House seats that are embroiled in scandal, we also have Republican Senator Conrad Burns (Mont.) under investigation for his ties with Abramoff.
So how many Democratic seats are embroiled in investigations and scandals? According to the WaPost:
House Democrats have had to deal with investigations of their own, involving Reps. William J. Jefferson (La.), Alan B. Mollohan (W.Va.) and Jane Harman (Calif.), but none of those cases have put Democratic seats in jeopardy.
In the Senate, a federal inquiry into Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and his ties to a nonprofit community agency that paid him more than $300,000 in rent while receiving millions of dollars in federal assistance has provided his Republican challenger with a strong issue and has kept that race close.
In other words, four Democratic congressional seats are under investigation, or embroiled in scandal. In comparison, there are 17 Republicans listed here that are either under investigation, or are embroiled in scandals That is a huge difference between the number of Democrats and the number of Republicans.
The "culture of corruption," belongs to the Republican Party.
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