Congressional Corruption: A Bipartisan Affair

Over the past few years, Democrats have been shouting from the rooftops about the "culture of corruption" in the Republican Party. And this accusation has not been completely unfounded, particularly in the cases of the Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham scandals.

Yet I believe that they only have one half of the corruption equation correct.

This weekend, some very startling news about Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana came to light. As part of an investigation into bribery charges, Jefferson has been caught on video accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant. Jefferson also holds the distinction of being the only sitting Congressman to have his office searched by the FBI.

And Jefferson is a Democrat.

The names change but we have seen this before and will see it again. Not only is neither political party immune from corruption, but our two-party system almost seems to encourage it.