I just watched the Fox News Special Porked: Earmarks for Profit, which aired tonight at 8:00 pm (EDT). The 60 Minutes-style 3-segment documentary program, hosted by Chris Wallace and reported by Gregg Jarrett, covered allegedly skuzzy earmark deals that are claimed to have benefitted politicians or their families. The show covered Rep. Dennis Hastert’s (R-Illinois –retired) involvement with the Prairie Parkway; Rep. Paul Kanjorsky’s (D-PA) channeling of earmark money for government contracts to a family-owned company, Cornerstone; and the real estate deals of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA).
The program was well-reported and edited, but short on new information. As the Washington bureau of the Chicago Tribune commenting on the Hastert parkway deal noted, "Expose may be a strong verb for a story that the Tribune reported two years ago."
Similarly, Calvert and Kanjorski have been under investigation for years; however, the House Ethics Committee have deferred judgment on whether these activities constituted unethical behavior. It's not surprising FOX would do a piece on Kanjorski, who has served 12 terms. He is targeted by Republicans in the 2008 election cycle, reported Politico in 2007. (Kanjorski, by the way, is also celebrated in some winger blogs for his comment about the "fraud" perpetuated by the Dem 2006 majority, saying at a town meeting in his district that ‘he and his fellow Democrats "sort of stretched the facts" about their intention to end the war in Iraq and bring American troops home.’)
If FOX and Wallace were less dishonest, they would have done better to cover the Republicans in the CREW report (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) on the 22 most corrupt members of Congress, plus 2 dishonorable mentions. Here’s the list (20 Repubs, 4 Dems) with hyperlinks to each corruption-tainted member, covered on CREW’s admirable www.beyonddelay.org
website:
The 22 most corrupt members of Congress
• Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
• Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
• Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
• Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
• Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
• Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
• Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
• Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
• Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
• Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
• Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
• Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
• Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
• Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
• Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
• Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
• Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
Dishonorable mentions
• Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
• Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)