Rich Lowry on the Abramoff scandal. You'd never know it from some of the news reporting but it would seem that no Democrat took money directly from Jack Abramoff, whereas plenty of Republicans did. On the other hand, a lot of Democrats took "Abramoff-related money," mostly in the form of campaign donations from companies that were Abramoff clients. That's not quite the same thing but it doesn't mean some Democrats didn't accept money that had a quid pro quo attached.
There are websites that list the financial contributions that our lawmakers and government officials have accepted. I'd like to see one that lists the amounts, the source and all "favors" that were done for that donor. I assume there must be some websites that index this information on a bi-partisan basis but I haven't come across one.
I happen to think that most of the proposals for "campaign finance reform" are so full of loopholes (and sometimes, assaults on my right to support the candidate of my choice) as to be meaningless. Newt Gingrich, who knows a thing or two about ethical violations, is proposing that there be a law against fund-raising events in Washington, D.C. Uh, wouldn't that just mean that they'd move them the four miles to Arlington? The only thing that will stop this kind of thing is if citizens get mad about it and start voting people out of office for conflicts of interest. Right now, we don't seem to care enough to cause someone to lose an election.