Scandalized Lawmakers Face Voters

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Updated: 8:30 a.m. Nov. 5

While there’s never a shortage of scandal on Capitol Hill — the sins of lawmakers exposed in recent months range from secret love children to unpaid taxes — misdeeds in the 110th Congress just aren’t generating a commotion this cycle.

The then-Democratic minority sought in the 2006 cycle to highlight Republicans’ relations with lobbyists, including the disgraced Jack Abramoff, and used the “culture of corruption” mantra as one of its primary campaign themes.

Instead, in the lead-up to this Election Day, the impact of Members’ inappropriate behavior appears largely confined to individual Senate or House races, but overshadowed by voters’ economic concerns as well as the presidential race.

“It’s a pale carbon copy of the issue it was two years ago,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst and Roll Call contributing writer.

Bill Allison, senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, said that ethics is not playing a large part in national campaign talking points because both parties have ethical problems they would prefer not to talk about. The conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) makes it hard for Republicans to talk about ethical issues, and “Democrats don’t have a reason to raise ethics because they are the majority party,” Allison said.

Democratic attacks on ethics would invariably invite Republicans to remind voters of misdeeds involving Democratic Reps. Charlie Rangel (failure to report income), William Jefferson (federal corruption indictment) and Tim Mahoney (a man of many mistresses).

The silence of both parties on the issue nationally, Allison said, is a reminder that “it is the voters who are ultimately responsible for enforcing ethics in Washington.”

But real and alleged misdeeds could still play a central role on Election Day in a handful of races.

Alaska Senate
Incumbent: Ted Stevens (R)

Stevens, the most senior Republican in the U.S. Senate, was running neck and neck with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) before a federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted the Senator of seven counts of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms. Stevens has accused the prosecution of misconduct and has vowed to appeal the verdict, but members of his own party — including National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — have called on him to resign.

If Stevens wins re-election, he may still face sanctions from the Ethics Committee, not to mention his sentencing in federal court in the spring, and months if not years of appeals.

Result: Stevens maintains a lead of 48 percent to 45 percent over Begich with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.

Alaska’s at-large district
Incumbent: Don Young (R)

Young, an 18-term incumbent, is in trouble. The Congressman narrowly survived a primary in September, beating Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell by just over 300 votes. He has faced a range of allegations since his last election, including charges that he inserted an earmark into legislation on behalf of a campaign contributor after the House and Senate had passed the bill. News reports have also suggested that federal officials are investigating his ties to oil services firm VECO. And conservative groups have opposed his re-election because he is a champion of bringing federal earmarks back to Alaska.

Young has trailed in all recent public polling against the Democratic nominee, former state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz, but the race is very close.

Result: Young leads Berkowitz 51.5 percent to 43.9 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.

Arizona’s 1st district
Open seat: Rick Renzi (R) is retiring

Renzi was indicted in February on 35 corruption charges involving allegations that he siphoned money from his family business into his campaign coffers and that he pushed a land deal in Congress to benefit a former business partner who owed him money.