Bad Bad Men (and Women)

DKos points to an LA Times article listing one groups notation of the 13 most corrupt members of congress. The report, titled "Beyond DeLay" (the exterminator was exempted from the list), has a variety of familiar faces, and consists of 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats. The full set:

-Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) (Senate Majority Leader)

-Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) (House Majority Whip)

-Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)

-Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)

-Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)

-Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA)

-Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) (Republican Conference Chair)

-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham

-Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)

-Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-NC)

-Rep. Marilyn N. Musgrave (R-CO)

-Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)

We should be dismayed that, including Rep. DeLay two of the top three leaders in both the House and the Senate are among Congress' most corrupt (Santorum's position places him #3 in the Senate leadership hierarchy. The two congressmen in leadership that aren't on the list are Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) (Speaker of the House) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (Assistant Senate Majority Leader)). What does this tell us about the current state of affairs in Washington?

We should also note that Kos did not shirk from splashing the Democratic names over his website either. While Rep. Jefferson is the type of Blue Dog Democrat that the lefties tend not like much anyway, Rep. Waters is a stalwart in the House Progressive Caucus. That they put her name up shows that, extreme politics aside, they still care more about clean government than defending even friendly politicos. That's heartening.

UPDATE: Into the Traffic Jam we go.