Corruption Digest - 12/9/05

POLLING: A new AP poll finds 88 percent of Americans believe corruption is a serious problem and 67 percent said a moderate number to a lot of public officials are involved." But that's not necessarily good news for any one political party, as Democrats and Republicans- both of whom have refused to support serious reforms like public financing of elections - are seen as equally (un)ethical by the public. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the public "believes that executives are bent on destroying the environment, cooking the books and lining their own pockets." The story cites a new Harris poll that shows 90 percent of Americans "said big companies had too much influence on government, up from 83 percent last year." Meanwhile, 68 percent say the news media is too powerful. And despite the right-wing's attempt to portary unions as overly powerful, just 43 percent believe that's true.

CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION: The AP outs other Republicans who might be involved in the Duke Cunningham scandal...Instead of offering an explanation of his relationship with Jack Abramoff, Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (R) just says he wishes the indicted lobbyist had "never been born." Ohio Rep. Bob Ney (R) cites national security as his reason for not providing more details about some of his corporate-funded trips. The nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is demanding Congress's ethics committee start investigating Ney on bribery charges. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi introdces a bill to rebuke the Republicans for allowing the pharmaceutical industry to bribe its way to passage of the recent Medicare bill.

STATE CORRUPTION: Reporters uncover evidence that lobbyist-turned-Mississippi-Governor Haley Barbour's niece is making off with a nice fat post-Katrina FEMA contract. Alaska GOP leaders, including the State House Speaker, get fined for "breaking state laws regulating campaign contributions and financial disclosures."

EDITORIALS/COLUMNS: The New York Times chastises Gov.-elect Jon Corzine (D-NJ) for appointing Rep. Bob Menendez (D) to the Senate, despite questions about Menendez helping get a former aide "hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying contracts and political consulting work." The Washington Post's David Broder says the corruption scandals mean Congress needs a House cleaning. Fortune's Nelson Schwartz said its time for Congress to stop genuflecting to energy industry campaign contributions, and pass a windfall profits tax on Big Oil.

POP CULTURE: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on the new movie Syriana, which explores corruption in the global oil business.

COMMENTS: Go to Sirota's Working Assets site to comment on this entry