13 MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

News Release from CREW 9-26-05: CREW RELEASES NEW REPORT -- REVEALS THE MOST TAINTED MEMBERS OF CONGRESS BEYOND DELAY: THE 13 MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Washington, DC -- Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a 93-page report entitled Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress, documenting the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted Members of Congress. For the first time, CREW has compiled and analyzed all these members transgressions in tandem with the federal laws and congressional rules they may have violated. CREW has also launched a new website, www.beyonddelay.com, which details the tainted thirteen’s violations and encourages visitors, through the website, to contact their member of Congress to ask for an investigation of these members. The 13 members are: -- Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) -- Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA) -- Rep. Tom Feeney( R-FL) -- Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) -- Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) -- Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) -- Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) -- Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) -- Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) -- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) -- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) -- Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) -- Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) "CREW was compelled to research and release a report on these corrupt members because the ethics committees in both the House and Senate are completely inert," Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today. "Americans send their representatives to Washington to make laws, not to break them. We want to be clear with our report Beyond DeLay, that no one, not even Members of Congress are above the law." Over the past year, the issue of Congressional ethics has taken on new resonance. Where questionable conduct was once shrugged off as "business as usual," now both the public and the press are demanding greater accountability from Members of Congress. Leader Tom DeLay's ethics transgressions are just the tip of the iceberg. At a time when a recent Gallup Poll reports only that 36% of those polled express approval of Congress, people are taking a harder look at the actions of their own representatives. "It is time for our representatives to take their constitutional obligation to police themselves seriously, an obligation that members of both political parties have ignored to the detriment of the American people," Sloan said today. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. Go to Beyond Delay Go to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)