Why do we sit around, year after year, and allow this crap to go on???

Government watchdog groups say the system clearly needs to be changed. Naomi Seligman Steiner, spokeswoman for a government watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said what the fallen members of Congress are doing isn’t considered illegal.

“But that doesn’t mean the practice should continue,” she said.

Foley’s money keeps flowing

It’s legal for the ex-lawmaker to spend his campaign cash.

Former Congressman Mark Foley may be out of office and facing possible criminal charges, but that isn’t stopping him from spending money intended for his now-defunct re-election campaign.

Since resigning in late September amid allegations that he made inappropriate advances toward teenage interns, Foley has paid his sister more than $14,000 to run his campaign, almost $2,000 to lease a Volkswagen for the bygone campaign and an additional $50,000 to hire prominent criminal defense attorneys.

And there is still a lot more money to spend.

Foley has more than $1.6 million sitting in his campaign account, the biggest war chest of any candidate for office in Florida, according to the Federal Election Commission. And there are very few things he can’t use the money for, as long as he can prove the expenditures are associated with him having been in Congress.

Foley, a Fort Pierce Republican whose district included most of Charlotte County, resigned from the House on Sept. 29 after sexually suggestive computer messages he had sent to teenage boys became public.

Even though he no longer represents the 16th District and isn’t running for office, Foley, like other fallen members of Congress, still can use leftover campaign funds for anything but directly personal expenses.

Source: HeraldTribune.com