How Corrupt Are Western Democracies? Part Four/ 5 Parts

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1977–1981 James E. Carter Administration

Executive Branch
• Debategate: briefing book of President Jimmy Carter stolen and given to Ronald Reagan before U.S. presidential election, 1980
• Bert Lance (D), Director of OMB, resigned amidst allegations of misuse of funds during the sale of a Georgia bank to BCCI. No charges were ever filed.(1977)
Legislative branch
• Fred Richmond (D-NY) – Convicted of tax fraud and possession of marijuana. Served 9 months in prison. Charges of soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy were dropped after he submitted to counseling. (1978)
• Charles Diggs (D-MI), convicted on 29 charges of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms which formed a kickback scheme with his staff. Sentenced to 3 years (1978)
• Herman Talmadge Senator (D-GA), On October 11, 1979 Talmadge was denounced by the Senate for “improper financial conduct.” He failed to be re-elected. (1979)
• Michael Myers (D-PA) Received suspended six-month jail term after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct charged stemming from an incident at a Virginia bar in which he allegedly attacked a hotel security guard and a cashier.
• Charles H. Wilson (D-CA) censured after he converted $25,000 in campaign funds to his own use and accepted $10,500 from a man with a direct interest in legislation before Congress. This was a later non-Park incident.
• John Connally (R-TX), Milk Money scandal. Accused of accepting a $10K bribe. He was acquitted. (1975)
• Richard Tonry (D-LA) pleaded guilty to receiving illegal campaign contributions.
• Koreagate scandal involving alleged bribery of more than 30 members of Congress by the South Korean government represented by Tongsun Park. Several other Koreans and Congressmen were allegedly involved, but not charged or reprimanded. The most notable are:
1. Richard T. Hanna (D-CA) pleaded guilty and sentenced to 6–30 months in federal prison. Wound up serving a year in prison.
2. Otto E. Passman (D-LA) was accused of bribery and other charges, but found innocent.
3. John J. McFall, Edward Roybal, and Charles H. Wilson, all (D-CA). Roybal was censured and Wilson was reprimanded, while McFall was reprimanded,
1974–1977 Gerald Ford Administration
Executive Branch
• Nixon pardon: The pardon by President Gerald Ford (R) of former President Richard Nixon (R), (who had appointed Ford his vice-president), just before Nixon could be tried by the Congress for conspiracy and impeached for his role in the Watergate scandle. (1974)
Legislative Branch
• Andrew J. Hinshaw (R-CA) Congressman convicted of accepting bribes while Assessor of Orange County. He served one year in prison. (1977)
• Wayne L. Hays (D-OH), resigned from Congress after hiring and promoting his mistress, Elizabeth Ray See sex scandals. (1976)
• Henry Helstoski (D-NJ) Indicted on charges of accepting bribes to aid immigrants but the case was dismissed by the Supreme Court. (1976)
• James F. Hastings (R-NY), convicted of kickbacks and mail fraud. Took money from his employees for personal use. Served 14 months at Allenwood penitentiary (1976)
• Robert L. F. Sikes (D-FL) reprimanded for conflict of interest in failing to disclose stock holdings.
• John V. Dowdy (D-TX), Served 6 months in prison for perjury. (1973)
• Bertram Podell (D-NY), pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conflict of interest. He was fined $5,000 and served four months in prison (1974)
• Frank Brasco (D-NY) Sentenced to three months in jail and fined $10,000 for conspiracy to accept bribes from a reputed Mafia figure who sought truck leasing contracts from the Post Office and loans to buy trucks.
• Frank Clark (D-PA) Paid congressional salaries to 13 Pennsylvania residents who performed no official duties.
Judicial Branch
• Otto Kerner, Jr. (D) Resigned as a judge of the Federal Seventh Circuit Court District after conviction for bribery, mail fraud and tax evasion while Governor of Illinois. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined $50,000. (1974)
1969–1974 Richard M. Nixon Administration
Executive Branch
• Spiro Agnew (R-MD), Richard Nixon’s Vice President, convicted of tax fraud stemming from bribery charges in Maryland and forced to resign. Nixon replaced him as V.P. with Gerald R. Ford (R-MI)(1973)
• Bebe Rebozo investigated for accepting large contribution to Nixon campaign. No charges filed (1973)
• Watergate (1972–1973) Republican ‘bugging’ of the Democratic Party National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel led to a burglary which was discovered. The cover up of the affair by President Richard Nixon (R) and his staff resulted in 69 government officials being charged and 48 pleading guilty. Eventually, Nixon resigned his position.
1. John N. Mitchell (R) Attorney General of the United States, convicted of perjury.
2. Richard Kleindienst (R) Attorney General, found guilty of “refusing to answer questions” given one month in jail.
3. Jeb Stuart Magruder (R) Head of Committee to Re-elect the President, pled guilty to 1 count of conspiracy, August 1973
4. Frederick C. LaRue (R) Advisor to John Mitchell, convicted of obstruction of justice.
5. H. R. Haldeman (R) Chief of Staff for Nixon, convicted of perjury
6. John Ehrlichman (R) Counsel to Nixon, convicted of perjury.
7. Egil Krogh Jr. (R) Aid to John Ehrlichman, sentenced to 6 months.
8. John W. Dean III (R) Counsel to Nixon, convicted of obstruction of justice.
9. Dwight L. Chapin (R) Deputy Assistant to Nixon, convicted of perjury.
10. Herbert W. Kalmbach (R) personal attorney to Nixon, convicted of illegal campaigning.
11. Charles W. Colson (R) Special Consul to Nixon, convicted of obstruction justice.
12. Herbert L. Porter (R) Aid to the Committee to Re-elect the President. Convicted of perjury.
13. G. Gordon Liddy (R) Special Investigations Group, convicted of burglary.
14. E. Howard Hunt (R) ‘security consultant,’ convicted of burglary.
15. James W. McCord Jr. (R) guilty of six charges of burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping.
16. Virgilio Gonzalez guilty of burglary.
17. Bernard Barker guilty of burglary.
18. Eugenio Martinez guilty of burglary.
19. Frank Sturgis guilty of burglary.
• Pentagon Papers Exposed unconstitutional actions and coverup by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (D) and Richard Nixon (R) in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 1964 through 1971.
• Richard Helms, Head of the CIA, denied his role in the overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende and was convicted of perjury. He also destroyed all record of over 150 CIA mind control experiments of the MKULTRA project for which he was not prosecuted.
Legislative Branch
• Cornelius Gallagher (D-NJ) pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and served two years in prison.
• J. Irving Whalley (R-PA) Received suspended three-year sentence and fined $11,000 in 1973 for using mails to deposit staff salary kickbacks and threatening an employee to prevent her from giving information to the FBI.
• Martin B. McKneally (R-NY) Placed on one-year probation and fined $5,000 in 1971 for failing to file income tax return. He had not paid taxes for many years prior.
Judicial Branch
• Harold Carswell (R): Was not nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court (1970) after publication of a 20-year-old speech: “I yield to no man… in the firm, vigorous belief in the principles of white supremacy.” Was also alleged to be hostile to women’s rights. Later arrested in (1976) for homosexual advances in a men’s washroom.
1963–1969 Lyndon B. Johnson Administration
Executive Branch
• Bobby Baker (D), adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson: resigned after charges of favoritism (1963)
• Billy Sol Estes (D): convicted felon who donated to Lyndon Johnson and influenced Texas elections (1961);
• Walter Jenkins, President Johnson’s longtime aide and friend: resigned after being arrested on a morals charge (1964)
Legislative Branch
• Ted Kennedy Senator (D-MA) drove his car into the channel between Chappaquiddick Island and Martha’s Vineyard, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months (1969)
• Thomas J. Dodd, Senator (D-CT): Censured by the Senate for financial misconduct (1967)
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (D-NY): was expelled from Congress but won the special election as his own replacement (1967)
• Daniel Brewster (D-MD) Senator pleaded no contest to accepting an illegal gratuity in 1975 and fined $10,000. Brewster was convicted in 1972 of accepting $14,500 from a lobbyist, and got a six-year term in 1973 over the conviction, but the conviction was overturned on grounds of unclear jury instructions.
Judicial Branch
• Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (D): resigned when he was discovered to be a paid consultant to a convicted criminal. No charges were ever filed. (1969)