Pelosi, Reid, Huckabee, Obama Among Nation's "Most Corrupt"

Judicial Watch has named its ten most corrupt political figures of 2007, and the list may surprise. It includes a number of very well-known politicians who have received little attention for their questionable business deals. Among them are:

• Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA): ...Feinstein reviewed military construction government contracts, some of which were ultimately awarded to URS Corporation and Perini, companies then owned by Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum...

• Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR): ..."[Huckabee's] career has also been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor's office..."

• Senator Barack Obama (D-IL): ...n 2007, more reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased $50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation Obama pushed...

• Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): ...snuck a $25 million gift to her husband, Paul Pelosi, in a $15 billion Water Resources Development Act recently passed by Congress. The pet project involved renovating ports in Speaker Pelosi's home base of San Francisco. Pelosi just happens to own apartment buildings near the areas targeted for improvement, and will almost certainly experience a significant boost in property value as a result of his wife's earmark...

• Senator Harry Reid (D-NV): ...over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help a developer, Havey Whittemore, clear obstacles for a profitable real estate deal. As the project advanced, the Times reported, "Reid received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Whittemore." Whittemore also hired one of Reid's sons (Leif) as his personal lawyer...

Don't draw conclusions before reading the whole list. I've highlighted Huckabee and Obama (among presidential candidates) because their cases have received less scrutiny to date. It's worth noting however, that Mayor Giuliani and Senator Clinton earned places on the list as well. What's notable to me is that most Americans are quite familiar with the accusations against Scooter Libby, Rudy Giuliani, and Larry Craig (for example), but are unlikely to have read anything about the cases of Speaker Pelosi, Senator Feinstein, Senator Obama, or Senator Reid. I wonder why that is?

The accusations against Mayor Giuliani have been well-aired at this point. Judicial Watch's summary of the charges against Giuliani is relatively brief -- centering on alleged misuse of city resources to hide his affair, and on the misdeeds of friend and confidante Bernie Kerik. (One wonders if Judicial Watch has considered this rowback from the New York Times.)

Lisa Myers of NBC news looked at the Huckabee accusations here. In general, they involve a failure to disclose otherwise legal gifts; the receipt by Huckabee of a large number of gifts (valued at twice his annual salary one year), and Huckabee's appointing of some gift givers to unpaid state commissions. Huckabee's defense -- both on his site and to Fox News -- is that he was being hounded by Democrats upset at having a Republican finally win a statewide office in Arkansas. One conservative critic characterized Huckabee's actions as 'Clintonesque.'

The voters of Iowa and New Hampshire will let us know soon enough whether they take these accusations seriously--on either side of the aisle.