Judicial Watch's Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians of 2013

Judicial Watch (JW) has released its list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2013, and it’s bipartisan in nature.

Not only are eight members of the Obama Administration named, starting with Obama himself, but also GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner and GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss.

As the release states, “President Barack Obama actually tops this ‘Top Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians’ list for 2013 as the driving force behind so many of the misdeeds… He is a master at catch-me-if-you-can, corrupt politics.”

Judicial Watch notes Obama’s penchant for ignoring Congress and rewriting federal law himself, including rewriting the Obamacare law 14 times by executive fiat; his “continual lies” that Americans could keep their own health care under Obamacare, despite his knowledge that “more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them;” and his disavowal of responsibility for targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups by the IRS, though he had made remarks warning about the dangers of conservative groups since 2010.

Moreover, Judicial Watch referred to the latest Obama deceit:

The latest Obama fix came on December 20, when he suddenly moved to allow hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their insurance due to Obamacare to sign up for bare-bone “catastrophic” plans. As National Review observed, “Of course, like every other exemption from Obamacare the latest fix is supposed to last only a year, raising the prospect that people will be kicked off their catastrophic coverage as soon as the 2014 election is safely in the political rear-view mirror.

The next highest Obama official on the list is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, noted for her evasion of responsibility for the Benghazi massacre, saying, “…the level of responsibility for the failures… was set at the Assistant Secretary of State level and below,” and yelling “What difference does it make?” when asked why the attack transpired and why the administration lied about a video being the cause of the attack. That outburst followed her statement at a September 14, 2012, event honoring the victims, during which she said, “We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen the rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful video that we had nothing to do with.”

JW also targets Clinton for the conflict of interest regarding her bosom buddy Huma Abedin, who had worked as a “special government employee” (SGE), a consultant position allowing her to represent outside clients while continuing as a top adviser at State. Lastly, JW cites the potential conflict of interest between Hillary Clinton’s role as Secretary of State and Bill Clinton’s international ventures, as noted in 2008 when Bill released a list of donors to his library and foundation in what he termed “a deal between” Obama “and Hillary.” According to the Associated Press, “Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the foundation. Other government donors include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman…” 

Attorney General Eric Holder is chosen for lying about whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) could prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act for publishing classified material. Holder stated, “In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material – this is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.” However, NBC news reported Holder approved a search warrant for the email account and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen.  

Holder is also noted for “bludgeoning states over taking steps to prevent voter fraud… Judicial Watch went to court in North Carolina in early December to defend the State of North Carolina against a DOJ lawsuit to prevent enforcement of the state’s recently passed law HB 589, which simply requires that voters present a photo ID before casting their ballots.”

JW writes, “The DOJ is similarly assaulting Texas in federal court as part of this ideological effort to suppress efforts to protect election integrity. More than a dozen states – including Kansas, Indiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin – have similar laws that require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls, and Obama’s attorney general has launched a campaign to challenge them all.” Then there’s the small matter of Holder’s travel expenses – “from March 2008 until August 2012… $697,525.20 were personal travel expenses.” All, of course, at taxpayer expense. Lastly, there is Holder’s continued stonewalling on the “Fast & Furious” gun-running scandal.

What would a top-ten-most-corrupt list be without Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his corrupt donors and pals? As JW quotes from FrontPage.com, “Harvey Whittemore was sentenced to two years in prison for funneling more than $130,000 in illegal campaign funds to Sen. Harry Reid’s re-election committee in 2007…” Peter Schweizer writes for Fox News, “Sen. Reid has sponsored at least $47 million in earmarks that directly benefitted organizations that one of his sons, Key Reid, [RW1] either lobbies for or is affiliated with.”

In addition, JW notes, “Obama and Reid have long opposed a proposed nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which has already cost U.S. taxpayers an astounding $15 billion, according to various federal audits. So, Obama simply instructed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to decline to conduct the statutorily mandated Yucca Mountain licensing process, essentially destroying the project. In mid-August, a federal appellate court ruled that Obama ‘is simply flouting the law.'”

The icing on the cake, as JW writes, took place when, on “November 21, 2013, – a day which should live in congressional infamy – Reid gutted the long-standing filibuster rules of the U.S. Senate in order to grease the path for Barack Obama’s court appointees.”

Next up is John Brennan, CIA Director, who “revealed that the U.S. and its allies had ‘inside control over any plot’ in its efforts to thwart a May 2012 terrorism bomb plot, thus blowing the cover on undercover agents within al Qaeda” in a May 7, 2012, teleconference with various TV terrorism consultants. As Reuters reported, “The next day’s headlines were filled with news of a U.S. spy planted inside Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who had acquired the latest, non-metallic model of the underwear bomb and handed it over to U.S. authorities. At stake was an operation that could not have been more sensitive – the successful penetration by Western spies of AQAP, al Qaeda’s most creative and lethal affiliate. As a result of leaks, the undercover operation had to be shut down.”

JW also points out Brennan’s involvement in influencing the storyline of the movie “Zero Dark Thirty.” 

Speaker of the House John Boehner is selected for what Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer calls the “Tollbooth Strategy,” explaining, “You pay money at a tollbooth in order to use a road or bridge. The methodology in Washington is similar: if someone wants a bill passed, charge them money to allow the bill to move down the legislative highway.” Schweizer reported that Boehner apparently used the Tollbooth Strategy to collect more than $200,000 in political donations from executives just days before holding votes on bills critically important to their industries.

Add former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose DHS U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) “abandoned required background checks in 2012, adopting, instead, costly ‘lean and lite’ procedures in an effort to keep up with the flood of amnesty applications resulting from the DACA directive… the directive actually created a new avenue of chain migration, whereby immediate relatives of DACA requesters could be approved for amnesty.” As a result, according to an agency memo from District 15 Director David Douglas, “some of the districts closer to the U.S./Mexico border have been inundated.” JW concludes, “Napolitano’s legacy is one that has gutted, for political reasons, the very immigration laws she swore to uphold.”

Who could forget Former IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller, who wound up admitting to the targeting of anti-Obama Tea Party groups during the 2012 presidential election, as the IRS purposefully stonewalled the approval of nonprofit applications from “Tea Party” and other conservative groups that were seeking tax exempt status. Of course, Miller’s partner in crime, former IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner, was also named. As JW points out, “Eventually, the IRS acknowledged that while she was in charge, IRS agents improperly targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status from 2010-2012.” JW adds of Miller and Lerner’s targeting, “they both lied about it in separate appearances before Congress.”

Another GOP member of the list is Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who is “one of the key abusers who used leadership PAC loopholes to convert campaign cash into lavish lifestyle upgrades for themselves and their family members.” According to The New York Times, his “leadership PAC spent $10,000 on golf at Pebble Beach, nearly $27,000 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and $107,752 at the exclusive Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The amount Mr. Chambliss spent at the Breakers in the 2012 election cycle, the book reports, is three times what the senator gave to the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the same period.”

Lastly, there is Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:

[Sebelius] solicited financial support for President Obama’s huge health care disaster. In May, Secretary Sebelius was caught hitting health care companies up for cash to fund Obamacare after Congress rejected all of the administration’s requests. But, that was just for openers – in October Sebelius redefined the term “incompetence” when she oversaw the disastrous launch of the Obamacare website.

Dishonorable mentions on the JW list were former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for using his staff to work on Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) at taxpayer expense; outgoing Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who “became the subject of an FBI probe because of his possible quid-pro-quo dealings with Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the chief executive of Star Scientific;” incoming Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has a “Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation hanging over his head;” and former Rep. Rick Renzi, as in June, 2013, Renzi was convicted on 17 counts of extortion, racketeering and other federal charges; in October, he was sentenced to three years in prison.

One more dishonorable mention to really complete the list: National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who made the list last year for her duplicity with regards to Benghazi. This year she was chosen for accepting the position of National Security Advisor, which requires no Senate approval.