Corruption Runs Deep-- And Wide

Study Shows How House Members and Families Reap Benefits - NYTimes.com

...The 346-page report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, is an extraordinary compendium of creative accounting, self-interested budgeting and generous expense reimbursements. It highlights common practices that translate into tens of millions of dollars in payments to relatives or the lawmakers themselves.

There are hundreds of examples to choose from, but here are just a few:

Campaign accounts of Representative Ron Paul, a Republican of Texas who is running for the party’s presidential nomination, paid salaries or fees to his daughter, brother, grandson, daughter’s mother-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law, totaling more than $300,000, according to the report.

Mr. Paul did not dispute the findings, though Jesse Benton, a spokesman, said, “Any implication that there is anything inappropriate is wildly off base.”

Representative Rubén Hinojosa, Democrat of Texas, who paid two grandnieces and a son-in-law with his re-election campaign funds, also contributed money from his campaign account to his daughter’s election bid for county clerk in Texas, and he helped secure a federal budget appropriation for a hospital where his wife serves on the board, according to the report..