Harper's Ken Sliverstein looks at crime rates in Anacostia, The South Bronx and Congress. Congress "wins":

And then there’s the United States Congress, which makes the South Bronx look like Brigadoon. We can estimate the incidence of lawlessness on Capitol Hill by consulting a report on the most corrupt members of Congress issued September 18 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The report identifies 24 current members of Congress who have been implicated in egregious wrongdoing, including eleven who are formally under investigation. Six current elected officials listed in CREW’s 2005 and 2006 reports on corrupt members of Congress were not included this year (because no new information was available on their cases). Ten congressional miscreants identified in those past reports retired or were defeated for reelection last fall, so they weren’t included in the new report either. That brings the total number of positively identified Congressional rogues up to 42 (37 Republicans, 5 Democrats).

The population of Congress is 535, so the percentage of criminal and general wrongdoers comes to nearly 8 percent. It falls to 7 percent if you increase the “population” to 596, which would include the 61 new senators and House members elected last fall. In my view that’s being overly generous because the newcomers have not yet had much time to engage in criminal conduct, and as the statistics show, it’s likely they will.

I know this is back-of-the-envelope stuff, and sure, to some extent we’re comparing apples and oranges—members of Congress did not commit any rapes or murders, at least not any that we know about. But the fact remains—Congress is one of the most criminal places in America. Maybe that’s why everyone has to go through metal detectors before they’re allowed to enter the building.

Melanie Sloan has an op-ed in today's San Francisco Chronicle with an important message for Congress to reassert its constitutional oversight role and restore the balance of power. The Bush administration is trying to run rough-shod over Congress with claims of executive privilege. But, Congress is a co-equal branch -- and has the ability to pass legislation to deal with enforcement of Congressional subpoenas. They need to use that power:

This leaves one final option: Congress could pass a statute specifically granting federal courts the authority to hear either just this specific matter or to hear any cases involving the enforcement of congressional subpoenas against the executive branch. In 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Finances sought civil enforcement of its subpoena for Watergate tapes and documents. After a lower court refused to hear the matter, Congress passed legislation authorizing jurisdiction over just this specific suit. Ultimately, the committee lost, namely because the House Judiciary Committee already had the tapes. Nonetheless, by enacting the statute, Congress had its day in court.

In the current showdown, Congress could not only provide federal courts with jurisdiction, it could also provide for direct review by the Supreme Court, thereby ensuring that the White House's efforts to further expand the boundaries of executive privilege is heard while the administration is still in office. That alone would be a victory. In any event, the stalemate in which the Bush administration is taking an unprecedented and expansive view of executive power demonstrates how critical it is for Congress to provide the courts with the power to step in and resolve such controversies.

The Bush administration is trying to run out the clock. Congress needs a new game plan.

The Chistian Science Monitor thinks the elections were about two main themes: Iraq and corruption.   What does that mean in terms of Congressional action on ethics isn't quite clear yet:

What's missing from Democrats' ambitious early agenda, critics say, is a quick, clean, anticorruption element. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi promised last January to enact an ethics package - including a ban on all gifts from lobbyists, disclosure of earmarks, and a two-year wait before lawmakers leaving office can work as lobbyists - if Democrats took back the House. Pelosi aides say the presumptive House speaker wants an "Honest Leadership Open Government" package - details to be disclosed - to go through the committee process in the new Congress.

The ethics issue played out in the race for Majority Leader today.  Murtha's ethic woes became a major impediment for him and Pelosi.  Hopefully, that will accelerate the movement towards ethics reform.  

Of course, CREW will be watching.  But, given the concern about ethics expressed by voters, we won't be the only ones. 

In the wake of elections where voters expressed strong dissatisfaction with the DC culture of corruption, Democrats have made lobbyist reform a priority:

The Democratic agenda would ban gifts and travel paid for by lobbyists; double, to two years, the time in which lawmakers and senior officials are barred from lobbying their former offices; force lobbyists to disclose more of their activities; and shut down efforts like the Republican "K Street Project" - a forced alliance with lobbying firms, named for the Washington street that is home to many lobbying offices.

Both the House and Senate passed changes in lobbying laws and rules this year under Republican leadership, but the two chambers were never able to bridge their differences and produce final legislation. There's no guarantee the Democrats will do any better.

There is also no guarantee that Congress will deal with ethical issues affecting members, not just lobbyists: 

The congressional watchdog groups are trying to pressure the new leadership to approve one change that is not now on the agenda: creation of a body of legal experts from outside Congress to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers and their employees.

Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said "creating more and more rules for lobbyists is not the answer to congressional ethics problems. Members themselves need to follow ethics rules and suffer serious consequences for violating those rules."

Miller, the Washington lobbyist, agreed. He said that in addition to Abramoff and his former employees, "It's members of Congress and congressional staffers who are going to prison. Maybe there should be more ethics training for those folks and not pointing the finger at the lobbying community."

Congress needs to clean its own house.  And keep it clean. 

This is how bad the corruption has gotten among elected officials.  The FBI, which has already increased its anti-corruption units, may start conducting sting operations on the Hill and in state capitols: 

The new chief of the FBI's Criminal Division, which is swamped with public corruption cases, says the bureau is ramping up its ability to catch crooked politicians and might run an undercover sting on Congress.

Assistant FBI Director James Burrus called the bureau's public corruption program "a sleeping giant that we've awoken," and predicted the nation will see continued emphasis in that area "for many, many, many years to come."

So much evidence of wrongdoing is surfacing in the nation's capital that Burrus recently committed to adding a fourth 15- to 20-member public corruption squad to the FBI's Washington field office.

 There's no dearth of material for the FBI.  Beyond DeLay is a good start.

Talking Points Memo has reproduced Roll Call's handy chart of members of Congress in the 109th Congress who are facing federal investigations.  Some involve famly members.  Some of them are already gone from Congress. 

The list from Roll Call includes: Burns, Cunningham, DeLay, Doolittle, Harman, Foley, Frist, Jefferson, Kolbe, Lewis, Menendez, Mollohan, Ney, Renzi, Specter, Stevens and Weldon. TPM added Katherine Harris.

Via Roll Call, it appears the recent spate of criminal and ethical investigations is inspiring finger-pointing on the Hill:

While a Justice Department run by Republican appointees who were nominated by a conservative Republican president would normally get the benefit of the doubt from GOP lawmakers and staffers, some party insiders are privately wondering whether “rogue elements” within the department — and more specifically the Public Integrity Unit, where corruption cases are handled — are trying to tip the election to Democrats by leaking news of these investigations so late in the cycle.

“It would seem that the Public Integrity Unit of the Justice Department is running wild,” maintained a top Republican political operative, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity. “They’re trying to have some effect” on the midterm elections.

A House GOP leadership aide suggested that “rogue elements” within DOJ’s bureaucracy are “working for a Democratic victory” on Nov. 7.

Here's a thought. To avoid Justice Department leaks, avoid the kinds of unethical and criminal behavior that warrants a Justice Department investigation.

Curt Weldon's district paper, the Delco Times, ran an extensive article on "Beyond DeLay" which named Weldon one of the 20 most corrupt Members of Congress. Weldon naturally blasted the report, but the article covered the extent of Weldon's corrupt dealings:

"Part of the problem with Pennsylvania officials is a lot of them have been entrenched there for a very long time, and the longer you’re in Congress, the more likely you are to start abusing your position," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. Sloan is a former federal prosecutor who worked for Democratic lawmakers throughout the 1990s.

The CREW report compiles news reports in which Weldon, a member of the House since 1987, is described as using his powerful congressional position to help his daughters, Kim and Karen, son Andrew, longtime friend Cecelia "CeCe" Grimes and close political associate Charles Sexton Jr.

Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, has disputed some of the accounts, which show that Grimes, Sexton and the congressman’s children benefited financially from companies he supported, including Boeing, Oto Melara and Saratov Aviation.

The Los Angeles Times reported in February 2004 that Karen Weldon and Sexton -- Springfield’s Republican leader and a Weldon campaign adviser -- received nearly $1 million worth of public relations contracts from Russian and European interests that Weldon assisted. The congressman said he provided the House Ethics Committee with documentation related to those cases and the committee took no disciplinary action. CREW asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, but has not heard from the department to date, Sloan said.

The newspaper reported this January that Grimes, a local realtor and Weldon family friend, has earned tens of thousands of dollars worth of lobbyist fees from defense contractors with strong ties to Weldon.

Furthermore, the Web site of Harper’s magazine found that Kim Weldon works for AugustaWestland, the helicopter division of Finmeccanica. Weldon reportedly helped the firm beat out a rival for a presidential helicopter bid. The site reported in July that Andrew Weldon, a racecar driver, is sponsored by Schaffer Motorsports, owned by a senior Boeing Co. employee. Boeing is Weldon’s top campaign contributor and the congressman is a strong proponent of the V-22 Osprey, manufactured at the company’s Ridley Township plant.

The constant refrain from the those members named in Beyond DeLay is that CREW is partisan. That's not true but it's their only defense. Beyond DeLay included several Democrats, and as Melanie Sloan explained that Republicans, as the party in power, have more options for corruption:

"You have to have power to abuse it," Sloan said.

The Daily Muck links to an amazing revelation in the NY Daily News. There are so many corruption cases coming from Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to start add 37 agents -- creating three new squads -- to keep up with the load:

There is so much political corruption on Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to triple the number of squads investigating lobbyists, lawmakers and influence peddlers, the Daily News has learned.

For decades, only one squad in Washington handled corruption cases because the crimes were seen as local offenses handled by FBI field offices in lawmakers' home districts.

But in recent years, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and other abuses of power and privilege have prompted the FBI to assign 37 agents full-time to three new squads in an office near Capitol Hill.

CREW's will do our part to keep uncovering ethic breaches to make sure those agents have enough to do.

USA Today editorialized on Congress as 'favor factory where ' [the] revolving door keeps spinning" that greatly benefitted lobbyists like former Jerry Lewis staffer Letitia White:

Earmarks themselves are nothing new. But they used to involve mostly pork-barrel public-works projects that lawmakers steered to their home districts. These days, they have become expensive favors for well-connected industries and companies. Earmarks topped $60 billion in this fiscal year's 11 regular spending bills, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, triple the total when Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

Congress is patting itself on the back for passing a new "earmarks" rule. But USA Today cut through the spin:

Last week, the House took the tiniest step imaginable to deal with earmarks. One of the worst aspects of earmarking is that lawmakers often do it secretly. Under a new rule, hailed by Rep. Brian Bilbray and other sponsors as a big deal, members will have to own up to earmarks they sponsor.

Wow. It took nearly nine months for the House to make members do what they should have been doing all along. And even this rule is riddled with loopholes: It doesn't apply to 10 spending bills already passed by the House this year. Nor does it do anything to lock the revolving door that allows people like White to get rich selling access to the people they used to work for.