Political scandals

Political scandals are instances when conduct of a public official brings great discredit and embarrassment to oneself and one's office.

## Examples[edit]

* September/October 2005: House Majority leader Tom Delay (R-Tex) was indicted on September 28 on the counts of conspiracy to violate campaign finance law with two of his co-workers. Delay was charged of conspiring to use illegal corporate campaign contributions in the 2002 congressional elections. The indictment prompted Delay to step-down from his position as House Majority leader. On October 19 of 2005, Delay was issued an arrest warrant by a Travis County and was processed at the Fort Bend County Jail. [1]
* August 2007: On August 28, Larry Craig (R-Minn.) pleaded guilty to a disorderely conduct charge after his arrest for solicitation of sexual contact in an airport bathroom stall.[2]
* February, 2008: Carl Stanley McGee (D), a Leftist gay official in Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, is arrested for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in the steam room of a Florida resort. [3] [4]
* February 2008: Leftist New York Governor Eliot Spitzer breaks wife's heart when discovered to have solicited prostitutes while in office. [5]
* March, 2008: Leftist Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick charged in text-messaging sex scandal. [6]
* April, 2008: Thomas Athans, co-founder of the liberal TalkUSA Radio network and a married Michigan Democrat is charged with soliciting a prostitute. [7]
* April, 2008: Oklahoma state prosecutors filed 35 felony charges against Democrat Sheriff Mike Burgess of Custer County for running a sex-slave operation out of his jail using female inmates he bribed for the purpose. Charges include 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official. [8]
* October, 2008: ABC News reveals Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney had an affair with an aide and then paid her $121,000 to keep her quiet and avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit. The Florida congressman won his seat in 2006 while promising to return morals and family values to Washington in the aftermath of the resignation of former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. [9]