Target Dems Caught in Ethical Crosshairs
August 2, 2010
FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following incumbent and challenger districts: Jason Altmire (PA-04); John Barrow (GA-12); Melissa Bean (IL-08); Sanford Bishop (GA-02); John Boccieri (OH-16); Leonard Boswell (IA-03); Allen Boyd (FL-02); Bruce Braley (IA-01); Ben Chandler (KY-06); Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03); Jim Costa (CA-20); Lincoln Davis (TN-04); Chet Edwards (TX-17); Bob Etheridge (NC-02); Bill Foster (IL-14); Joe Garcia (FL-25); Debbie Halvorson (IL-11); Martin Heinrich (NM-01); Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL); Brian Higgins (NY-27); Baron Hill (IN-09); Tim Holden (PA-17); Steve Kagen (WI-08); Paul Kanjorski (PA-11); Larry Kissell (NC-08); Rick Larsen (WA-02); Dan Maffei (NY-25); Jim Marshall (GA-08); Jim Matheson (UT-02); Michael McMahon (NY-13); Jerry McNerney (CA-11); Michael Michaud (ME-02); Walt Minnick (ID-01); Patrick Murphy (PA-08); Glenn Nye (VA-02); Tom Perriello (VA-05); Gary Peters (MI-09); Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL); Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23); Mike Ross (AR-04); Kurt Schrader (OR-05); Heath Shuler (NC-11); John Spratt (SC-05) Dan Seals (IL-10); Katrina Swett (NH-02); Harry Teague (NM-02) David Wu (OR-01).
Edwards Caught in Ethical Crosshairs
Texas Dem Refuses to Relinquish Dirty Cash As House Ethics Battle Pervades Congress
Washington- With two senior Democrats facing serious charges from a House Ethics panel, it’s apparent that the out-of-touch majority is mired in the swamp they once promised to drain. As Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel’s wrongdoings are exposed, Chet Edwards will voluntarily go down with them if he hangs on to their campaign cash. Despite both Democrat’s ethical baggage, Edwards’ campaign coffers are still dirty with $20,000 from the troubled duo.
“By refusing to return the thousands of dirty campaign dollars he has taken, Chet Edwards has voluntarily become part of the out-of-touch majority’s swamp of corruption,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “In an already turbulent political environment for House Democrats, these new charges threaten to derail their majority. And as the pressure to return the tainted cash continues to mount and with a possible trial looming, will Edwards choose to abandon the sinking ship or will he continue to hang on to the tainted cash?”
“Two possible ethics trials of senior Democratic members of Congress are compounding the governing party’s political woes and raising hopes among Republican leaders that they can make large gains in November’s mid-term elections…The comments came after Ms. Waters failed Friday to reach a plea agreement with ethics investigators and will face a public trial for allegedly using her influence to steer federal bailouts funds to a Boston-based bank in which her husband owned stock.
“Her predicament came a day after Mr. Rangel was formally charged Thursday with 13 counts of violating House ethics rules, mostly related to his attempts to raise money from companies for an educational institution that bears his name.” (Neftali Bendavid and Brody Mullins, “Ethical Woes Fog Democrat Hopes for November,” Wall Street Journal, 8/02/2010)
With November’s midterm election just three months away, will Edwards be a casualty of the Democrats’ growing corruption problem?
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