Posted on 03/04/2006 6:55:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Since the 1970s, more than a dozen congressmen have been convicted in criminal court. Their cases and sentences include:
- Rep. Andrew J. Hinshaw, R-Calif., spent a year in jail after being convicted in 1976 of accepting bribes when he was county tax assessor. He lost the primary election and resigned at the end of his term.
- Rep. Charles Diggs Jr., D-Mich., was convicted in 1978 of operating a payroll kickback scheme in his congressional office. He served seven months of a three-year prison term. He was re-elected, then resigned in 1980.
- Rep. Michael Myers, D-Pa., served 20 1/2 months of a three-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from FBI agents impersonating Arab businessmen. He was convicted in 1980 and expelled from Congress.
- Four other House members were convicted in the Arab businessmen bribery scandal: Democratic Reps. John Murphy of New York, Frank Thompson of New Jersey, John Jenrette of South Carolina and Raymond Lederer of Pennsylvania. Thompson and Murphy were sentenced to three years; Jenrette, two years; and Lederer, one year.
- Rep. Mario Biaggi, D-N.Y., was convicted in 1988 of extorting nearly $2 million from defense contractor Wedtech Corp. He resigned from Congress and served two years and two months of an eight-year sentence. He was defeated in his 1992 re-election bid.
- Rep. Mel Reynolds, D-Ill., was sentenced in 1995 to five years in prison for having sex with an underage campaign worker. He resigned from Congress, then was sentenced in 1997 to 6 1/2 years for bank fraud and other violations. The second sentence, which was to run at the same time as the first, was commuted in 2001 by President Clinton.
- Rep. Walter Tucker III, D-Calif., was sentenced in 1996 to two years and three months in prison for accepting and demanding bribes while mayor of a Los Angeles suburb. He resigned from Congress a week after his 1995 conviction.
- Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., pleaded guilty in 1996 to two felony mail fraud charges, lost re-election and served 15 months in prison. Clinton pardoned him in 2000.
- Rep. James A. Trafficant, D-Ohio, was convicted of 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy and racketeering, expelled from Congress and sentenced in 2002 to eight years in prison.
Was Robert Torricelli ever convicted of his crimes or did he manage to skate?
Hmmmm...I do see a fairly common theme...but what could it be? No matter, Dr Demento Dean, Dingy Harry and Bela Pelosi will make sure to tell us all about the GOP's corruption.
Still...something about this list...
Not only did Toricelli skate but McGreevy made him responsible for a multi million dollar fund to rehabilitate Camden, NJ.
But personaly I feel Cunningham got off easy.
I've always been bothered by the Traficant conviction when compared to "The Torch". Very similar crimes, but Torricelli was accused of taking much greater ammounts of money. The real difference there was the fact that Torricelli was a better partisan who never accused the Clintons of treason.
Really ..?? I thought he was in jail!
I agree. They should have made a bigger example out of him. I don't care if he's a "war hero". He sold his soul for money and kickbacks.
The only thing worse in government than a crooked democRAT is a crooked Republican.
8-1 democrats .. so much for the repubs "culture of corruption" .. it looks like the dems get the prize!!
The man that Toricelli threatened is in jail. The Torch is free to loot and lie at will.
Our NJ Supreme Court makes the sopranos seem honorable.
Maybe I'm confusing him with Trafficant.
The problem is that so many haven't been convicted.
And Pelosi can still rant about the Republicans and there air of corruption. What a stretch.
Though I don't condone it, I more or less "expect" democrats to be corrupt, its just in their nature. But I expect a republican to hold themself up to a higher standard. Otherwise just call yourself a democrat.
Look again, it's 11 to 1.
Sorry .. but glad to hear there were even more dems than I thought!! LOL!
Somebody needs to send this to Pelosi and ask her about the dems' "culture of corruption".
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