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Most voters think Congress’s ethics have gotten worse in the past two years, according to a new poll in key battleg

Leading gay blogger John Aravosis, writing today at his Americablog about White House spokesman Robert Gibbs attacking inside the beltway progressive critics of Barack Obama, like Aravosis, let slip that he performed surreptitious "dirty work" for Obama at the behest of his 2008 presidential campaign:Joe and I are upset with Obama, and we, for example, raised nearly $43,000 for the man, According to the White House, our money now doesn't count. Great, would they like to give it back? I for one, would love the $1000 back that I personally donated to the Obama campaign. Joe gave even more. I...

Republicans were fired from their control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the election of 2006 for a number of reasons. Spending too much generally was one of them. Bloating appropriations bills with "earmarks" to reward friends and supporters was another. Iraq was certainly a major contributing factor. But, what weighed House Republicans down like an anchor around their collective necks was: Scandal. Duke Cunningham's written menu of acceptable bribe amounts. Jack Abramoff buying Members and staff like heads of romaine lettuce at Whole Foods. And the father of all the scandals, Mark Foley. I won't regurgitate the whole...

In a sign that the Eric Massa controversy may not go away any time soon, the House on Thursday advanced a Republican measure calling for the ethics committee to "investigate fully" what House Democratic leaders and their staffs knew ahead of time about the ex-congressman's alleged misconduct. In a sign that the Eric Massa controversy may not go away any time soon, the House on Thursday advanced a Republican measure calling for the ethics committee to "investigate fully" what House Democratic leaders and their staffs knew ahead of time about the ex-congressman's alleged misconduct. The resolution, introduced by House Minority...

Next on Senate agenda? 'Pedophile Protection Act' 'Hate crimes' law definitions would protect 547 sex 'philias' The leader of a pro-family organization says families across the nation need to contact their U.S. senators now to try to derail a legislative plan that already has passed the U.S. House and is being awaited by President Obama – after a Democrat confirmed it would protect "all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or 'paraphilias' listed by the American Psychiatric Association."

By staying in office, Portland Mayor Sam Adams puts the city's interests well below his political ambitions Portland Mayor Sam Adams decided on Sunday to ride out his self-created debacle and remain in office, despite a looming investigation about possible sexual misconduct and abuse of power. He made his choice known in a manner befitting the occasion, by phoning a half-asleep city commissioner and leaving voice mails for two others. Adams doesn't get the final say, however. The community will decide his political fate, preferably through a recall election. The newly seated mayor admitted last week to lying repeatedly about...

You'd think, listening to Portland Mayor Sam Adams' apologies for his poor judgment in having sex with a teenager, that the whole thing was a passing mistake. A misjudgment, maybe, covered up by a pro forma lie in the heat of a campaign. When pressed, Adams on Monday reversed that long-standing lie about his 2005 relationship with a young man named Beau Breedlove and admitted that it was sexual, not platonic or mentoring. Adams apologized Tuesday for lying and for pressuring Breedlove into lying, too, when the rumors about them first arose in 2007, early in the mayoral campaign. Adams...

One thing we seem to breed in Oregon are big political scandals, and the latest one is hitting Portland Mayor Sam Adams with gale force. Adams admitted to The Oregonian and Willamette Week Monday that he lied back in September of 2007 when he denied rumors that he had had a sexual relationship with a teenager who had been a legislative intern. Adams, who is openly gay, said that while he first met the intern, Beau Breedlove, when he was 17, the two did not have sex until after Breedlove turned 18. When rumors about the two first surfaced in...

Allegations that state Rep. George M. Wilber, D-Colebrook sexually abused a young girl were no secret to Democrats, who investigated the claims in 2002 before Wilber then a first-time candidate for the seat he resigned Tuesday took office. Wilber said he paid the woman who made the sexual abuse allegation to avoid a lawsuit in 2005. The accusations prompted party leaders to withhold financial and staff support for Wilber's 2002 race, in which he edged out Winsted Republican David A. Cappabianca by 210 votes in a three-way race for an open seat. Wilber, 63, withdrew from the race for his...

Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) is under fire for agreeing to pay $121,000 in “hush” money to a former mistress who was set to file a sexual harassment suit against him when he fired her from his campaign staff. “The point is, I was paying her for sex,” Mahoney said. “When she cut me off I had no further use for her. It’s not like she knew anything about campaigns or advertising. She’s the one who reneged on the agreement we had. Then she blackmailed me. Clearly I’m the victim here. I just hope the voters will appreciate that.” Senior Democratic...

COLEBROOK - A 2005 settlement agreement that state Rep. George Wilber, D-63, agreed to after sexual assault allegations does not constitute an "admission of guilt," he said Friday. Documents left with The Register Citizen Thursday suggest Wilber was accused of sexually abusing a girl from the time she was 11 years old. The woman is now in her 40s. Among the documents is a letter from the alleged victim's doctor to noted sex abuse attorney Susan K. Smith, which states that her patient claimed to have been the victim of sexual abuse from ages 11 through 18. Smith did not...

On Monday, NewsBusters wondered how much coverage the sex scandal involving Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fl.) -- the Democrat Congressman who in 2006 won the seat previously held by the disgraced Mark Foley -- would get. Early indications suggest that as far as the television news outlets are concerned, the answer is "not much." In fact, though all three broadcast network evening news programs covered the Foley sex scandal when it was first revealed on September 29, 2006, not one of them felt that the man who replaced him admitting to having an affair with a former campaign staffer was at...

West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee. Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said. A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair...

Congressman's $121,000 Payoff to Alleged Mistress Tim Mahoney Elected to Remove 'Ethical Cloud' of His Disgraced Predecessor, Mark Foley By EMMA SCHWARTZ, RHONDA SCHWARTZ, and VIC WALTER Oct. 13, 2008— West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee. Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen,...

SOME FAMILY MAN: Asse Sam Hoyt ALBANY - A married assemblyman got caught with his virtual pants down - busted by XXX-rated e-mails to a 19-year-old intern.....In one sex message Hoyt made it embarrassingly clear they shared not only an interest in the people's business, but in lusty sex and personal hygiene. Titled "what i wish," the Democratic assemblyman's list included: ". . . that i could be painting your toenails right now . . . that i could see you do that little cheerleader move . . . that i could be your human lollipop . . ....

Data from the Defense Intelligence Agency indicates that enemy-initiated attacks on U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi civilians peaked in October 2006, the month leading up to the U.S. midterm elections. At the time, Vice President Dick Cheney said the insurgents were "very sensitive to the fact that we've got an election scheduled" and were trying to "break the will of the American people." Democrats, who cast the 2006 midterm election as a referendum on Iraq, ended up taking control of both the House and the Senate. The DIA data shows that between November 2006 and May 2007, attacks...

Democrats act like they’re smarter than Republicans. But deep down they’re very insecure. Deep down they think Republicans are not only smarter, but they have better secret plans and dirty tricks. So in some smoke-filled room, or at least a laptop filled room, nervous Democratic opposition researchers are trying to connect the Foley-Vitter-Craig dots. Because only a nit-wit could believe that three very sordid scandals could scourge the GOP in one session of Congress by sheer coincidence. Democrats do not believe in a God that generous. I am told Democratic counter-operatives are pursuing three conspiracy theories at this point. The...

Larry Flynt’s last effort to buy dirt on Washington politicians was what you might call a bust. But the Hustler publisher launched a new effort Sunday, offering $1 million for provable Potomac sleaze. Readers of the print edition of Sunday’s Washington Post, will have seen the all-type, full-page ad as they turned from “Russia’s Champion of Hopeless Causes Is Targeted for Disbarment” to “U.S. Warship Fires Missiles at Fighters in Somalia.” “Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine announce a cash offer up to $1 Million,” the headline on page A17 says. The ad explains: “Have you had a sexual encounter with...

HUSTLER magazine in the United States is looking for some scandalous sex in Washington again - and is willing to pay for it. "Have you had a sexual encounter with a current member of the United States Congress or a high-ranking government official?" read a full-page advertisement taken out by Larry Flynt's pornographic magazine in Sunday's Washington Post. It offered $US1 million for documented evidence of illicit intimate relations with a congressman, senator or other prominent officeholder. A toll-free number and email address were provided. The last time Flynt made such an offer was in October 1998 during the drive...

If ever a news story bolstered Rush Limbaugh's low opinion of the "drive-by media," it is the tawdry saga of former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. When the story about Foley's e-mails to former House pages first broke, cable news was All Foley/All the Time. The chattering classes -- this columnist included were outraged at the GOP leadership's inexcusable failure to protect vulnerable House pages from Foley. Many pundits didn't need proof, so happy were they to embrace Nancy Pelosi's charge that there had been a "cover-up of Mark Foley's outrageous behavior." When the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct...