Ten
Most Corrupt Politicians Of U.S.A.
Boss Tweed
The American symbol of inner-city
political corruption, William “Boss” Tweed
brilliantly mastered the form of aiding his constituents and business partners
in return for votes, money and power. Tweed, a Democrat, served as a member of
and eventually headed New York’s
Tammany Hall amidst heavy war profiteering during the Civil War. He was elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852, the New York City Board of
Advisers four years later, and the New York State Senate in 1867.
The city’s debts jumped about $100 million
dollars in just two years from 1868 to 1870. Tweed
was convicted in 1873 for his role in a corruption ring that stole at least $1
billion in today’s dollars and given a 12-year sentence. Tweed
was released a year later however after his prison term was reduced, though he
was immediately rearrested, as the city sued him for $6 million. Tweed escaped
and fled to Spain where he
was arrested and sent back to New York
City. Tweed died in
prison from pneumonia in 1878. Many, including Tweed
himself, believed that despite his crooked ways he did a lot of good for the
city, especially for the poor.
Ray Blanton
A former member of the Tennessee House of
Representatives, Blanton was elected Governor in 1975. He came under
significant pressure after he pardoned a convicted double murderer whose father
was later found to be a county chairman for Blanton. With the unlikelihood of
winning reelection, Blanton, a Democrat, decided not to run, and Republican
Lamar Alexander was elected his successor. Near the end of his term, three
state employees -- two from Blanton’s office --were charged by the FBI with
extortion and conspiracy to sell pardons, paroles and commutations.
Blanton’s most serious acts of corruption
occurred just shortly before his term was to expire as pardons were delivered
for 24 convicted murderers and 28 prisoners of other crimes in what many
believed were performed in exchange for money. To stop Blanton’s pardon spree,
the Lieutenant Governor and State House Speaker claimed the state constitution
was unspecific as to when a newly elected Governor must be sworn in. As a
result, Alexander was sworn in three days before his scheduled inauguration to
get Blanton out before he could pardon anyone else.
Fred Thompson became famous when in 1977 he
represented Marie Ragghianti who had tried to inform authorities of the corruption
taking place while she served as chairwoman of the state’s Pardons and Paroles
Board. She was fired by Blanton but sued for reinstatement and won. The story
was made into a book and later a film (“Marie”), in which Thompson played
himself, launching his movie career.
Budd Dwyer
A Republican politician from Pennsylvania, Budd Dwyer was a member of the
state House of Representatives from 1965 to 1970 and spent the following decade
in the state Senate. Dwyer was then elected state Treasurer -- the post he held
until committing suicide.
On January 22, 1987, Dwyer was one day away from
a federal court sentencing hearing after a jury found him guilty of taking
$300,000 in campaign donations from a computer company in a quid pro quo
exchange for a $4 million state contract. Dwyer was also accused of five counts
of mail fraud, four counts of inter-state transportation in aiding racketeering
and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Dwyer faced a maximum of 55
years in prison and a $300,000 fine.
At a press conference the morning of January 22,
with TV cameras rolling and reporters watching, Dwyer pulled out a loaded .357
Magnum from a manila envelope and took his own life.
Edwin Edwards
Edwin Edwards served four terms as Democratic
governor of Louisiana
in a time span ranging from 1972 to 1996. The New Orleans Times-Picayune
recently described Edwards as such: “He was a swashbuckling figure of engaging
charm and dubious ethics whom critics blame for cementing the popular national
image of Louisiana
as a captivating but corrupt backwater, the province of rogues and scoundrels.”
Despite accusations of impropriety beginning
early in his career -- a former associate claimed he was involved in several
corrupt practices, including the sale of Louisiana
agency posts; and he was accused of accepting money from a South Korean rice
broker while serving in the U.S. House -- his political career continued.
Then in 1997, FBI agents raided his house and
seized records and more than $400,000 in cash. The FBI had monitored over 1,500
hours of telephone conversations, and Edwards was charged for his involvement
in extorting payments from businessmen -- including San Francisco 49ers owner Edward Debartolo
Jr. -- in return for riverboat casino licenses.
In 1998 Edwards was indicted by the federal
government and found guilty on 17 of 26 counts of extortion, fraud,
racketeering, and conspiracy. Edwards, now 80, had been seeking a pardon or
sentence commutation by President Bush.
Spiro Agnew
Republican Spiro Agnew served as Vice President
under President Richard Nixon from January 1969 until his resignation in
October 1973 due to issues unrelated to the Watergate scandal. He was the
second United States
vice president to resign from office, following only John Calhoun, who did so
in 1832. Agnew was a crusader for what became known as “The Silent Majority,”
which the administration depicted as patriotic, conservative, middle-class
Americans opposed to the counterculture events of the time. He was often used
as Nixon’s voice in the public to attack the media, war protestors and the
administration’s opponents in colorful, bombastic ways.
After Nixon won re-election, Agnew was targeted
by a U.S. Attorney investigation for tax fraud, bribery, extortion and
conspiracy related to his earlier political career in Maryland. He was formally charged with
accepting bribes of more than $100,000. Agnew decided not to face trial and
resigned, entering a plea of no contest to charges of evading income taxes.
Agnew was given three years probation and fined $10,000. In 1981, a civil court
revealed that Agnew had in fact accepted the sum of $147,000 in bribes while
governor of Maryland.
He received $17,500 of the cash while he was serving as Vice President. Agnew
was forced to reimburse the state $268,000.
Carroll Hubbard
Carroll Hubbard served in the Kentucky Senate
from 1968 to 1974 before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives
in the state's 1st District. After a failed bid for Governor in 1979, Hubbard,
a Democrat, was re-elected to the House six more times before being defeated in
the 1992 primary.
Hubbard was indicted for misusing government
property and personnel as part of the 1992 Rubbergate House Banking Scandal, in
which House members were found to have overdrawn their House checking accounts.
Hubbard's wife was also put on probation for five years for illegally using the
congressman's aides for her own failed run for Congress.
To lessen his punishment, Hubbard worked as an
FBI informant with the name "Elmer Fudd" although he ultimately
proved useless to the agency. In 1993 Hubbard complained about this job to the
Washington Post and certain news programs. The following year he pled guilty to
three felony charges of violating federal campaign spending rules, conversion
of federal property, theft and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to
three years in federal prison in Fort
Worth, Texas and
fined $153,794.
In 2005 Hubbard ran for office in the Kentucky
Senate, losing by only 58 votes. He lost again in 2008.
George Ryan
Ryan served as the Republican Governor of Illinois from 1999 until
2003. Investigations into Ryan began in 1994 when he was serving as Illinois
Secretary of State in what would become known as the license-for-bribes
scandal. That year, an explosive car accident in Milwaukee killed six and left their two
parents significantly burned. An investigation found that the driver, who did
not speak English, had possibly used a bribe to receive his license. An
investigation began into the sale of drivers licenses for money, though Ryan
tried to stop it from proceeding. An eight-year investigation would reveal that
the secretary of state’s office had given licenses to unqualified truck drivers
for bribes.
In 2003, Ryan’s ex-chief of staff and campaign
manager was convicted of racketeering and fraud. In Decemeber of that year Ryan
was indicted along with lobbyist Lawrence Warner on 22 counts including
racketeering, bribery, money laundering, extortion, and tax fraud. Ryan was
accused of forwarding numerous state contracts to Warner and other associates,
taking campaign funds for personal use, and obstructing justice in trying to
stop inquiries into the license-for-bribes scandal. Ryan's trial began in late
2005 and in April 2006 he was found guilty by a jury on all counts. Ryan
appealed the verdict but in September of that year he was sentenced to six and
a half years in prison. He is scheduled for release on July 4, 2013.
James Traficant
A nine-term Democrat from Ohio serving from 1985 to 2002, Traficant
was known as a colorful, unconventional congressman willing to say whatever was
on his mind. In a 420-1 vote in 2002, Traficant was kicked out of Congress a
week after the House Committee of Standards of Official Conduct had recommended
it be done. Traficant was only the second member of the House to be removed
since the Civil War. Rep. Michael Myers was the other, expelled in 1980 after a
conviction for taking bribes.
Traficant had been convicted of 10 felonies
involving bribery, tax evasion and racketeering. Charges ranged from filing
false tax returns to making his aides work at his Ohio farm. He was defiant until the end,
claiming he was unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors, outlining what he
said were problems with the prosecution’s case against him and lies told by
witnesses. Traficant claimed the government sought to get back at him after he
was acquitted of bribery charges in 1983 when he was the sheriff of Mahoning County, Ohio.
In his final speech he stated, “I’ll go to jail before I resign and admit to
something I didn’t do.”
Traficant is currently serving out his
eight-year prison sentence and is expected to be released in September 2009.
Randy "Duke"
Cunningham
Cunningham, a decorated Navy fighter pilot
during the Vietnam War, represented San
Diego as a Republican in the U.S. House from 1991 to
2005, when he resigned from Congress in disgrace. His story is best told in the
book, “The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Tale of Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, the
Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught,” written by the Copley News Service
reporters who helped expose him.
The Cunningham sat on the powerful House
subcommittee that designates spending to certain defense programs, and he
resigned from Congress in November 2005 after pleading guilty to bribery. He
admitted taking bribes of at least $2.4 million -- the highest known amount a
congressman has ever taken -- from at least three defense contractors in
exchange for government business.
Cunningham had used the bribes to make
extravagant purchases such as a yacht, Roll Royce, suburban-D.C. condominium
and a mansion. On March 3, 2006, Cunningham was sentenced to eight years in
federal prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution.
Huey Long
Known as Louisiana’s
“Kingfish”, a name he gave himself, Democrat Huey Long served as Governor from
1928 to 1932, during which he pushed through a public works program of
unprecedented scale. To do so he used extensive political patronage and almost
any means he could, including threats and buying votes to beat back wealthy,
entrenched opposition. Long was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930 but did not
take office until the end of his gubernatorial term two years later.
In 1929 Long sought to increase taxes on the
production of oil but was confronted by strong opposition in the state
Congress. Impeachment of Long was sought on charges of corruption, bribery and
gross misconduct. The state House passed numerous charges against him but Long
succeeded in getting one third of the Senate to sign a document saying they
would vote against any charge regardless of the evidence, thus preventing the
two-thirds majority required. Those who signed the document were later given
state jobs, cash, or other rewards.
Long was known to intimidate his opponents by
firing their relatives from state jobs. He sought to establish a tax on
newspapers to forbid them from publishing material he deemed slanderous. In
1934 Long sought further control of Louisiana
state government by nearly eliminating local government, giving himself the
power to choose all state employees.
Long was shot in the Louisiana Capitol in
September 1935 -- one month after announcing his candidacy for president.
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