How to Tell Who is Corrupt and Who Isn't

There was a very small and mostly unnoticed announcement that Tom Delay will not be charged with any violations stemming from the Jack Abramoff scandal of a few years back.

Apparently, Delay is still waiting for resolution on charges brought against him in Texas.

Apparently, he's been fighting these things for six years. The combination of them drove him from office and I would imagine has cost him a fortune on legal aid.

So the Justice Department, after six years, apparently just quietly said, "never mind".

And there's no progress on the Texas case in sight. That one brought by a Democrat activist named Ronnie Earle, who boasted to a group at a Democrat event that he was going to bring Delay down.

I never really did catch onto what that case was all about. Something about DeLay raising money and spreading it out to various Republican candidates. I remember being puzzled about the charge at the time, thinking, "haven't pols in both parties been doing that for years?".

So was DeLay corrupt, or was he victimized by unethical persecution by Democrats in positions of power? How can we find out? Does the announcement by the Justice Department give us a hint?

So I was thinking about other cases. Blago for example - all that fuss about him trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, and he gets convicted on one count of lying to prosecutors. I'm confused - did he try to sell the seat or not? What was he offered for it, and by whom? If all he did was crudely complain to people on wiretapped phone calls that he should get something for the seat, does that by itself qualify as a crime?

Most of all, the deal-making obviously involved some people I would like to have heard from, including the current President, his Chief of Staff, and the person he wanted to take over that seat, Ms. Jarrett. Then there was Jesse Jackson Junior, who was supposedly trying to make his own deal to snag the appointment. Blago made a big fuss about calling them as witnesses, but somehow changed his mind when the trial actually came about.

Then he didn't even get on the stand himself, because he didn't need to.

Did Blago break the law or didn't he? If he didn't, why did the government spend all that time and money to prosecute him? If he did, why didn't the government uncover the evidence of who offered how much and when?

So was a deal cut to protect the President? Will we ever find out?

Then there's Rangel and Waters, and apparently more to come. Rangel and Waters sound pretty guilty, based on the information made public so far, but both are fighting to the end. Will they make a deal and go free, or will they face the music?

There are supposed to be several others on the list. Will we find out their names and what they did? Will they face justice? Will whether or not they face justice depend on their party affiliation?

The reason Sarah Palin cited for quitting her job as Alaska Governor early was the lawsuit and investigation mania that surrounded her during and after the presidential campaign. Nothing stuck, so they all seemed pretty obviously politically motivated.

How can we ever know whether a corruption charge and investigation is legitimate or a political vendetta? How many innocent politicians can be destroyed by false charges, versus how many corrupt politicians skate because they happen to belong to the party in power?

Washington, do you have any clue yet why all of us folks out in the countryside have lost faith in you?