2006 Republican Party scandals

The 2006 Republican Party scandals resulted in four resignations and three election losses for Republican politicians during the first two years of George W. Bush's second term as President and leading up to the 2006 midterm elections.

The Democratic Party unified several local and national campaigns around the slogan or meme "culture of corruption". The phrase was used to describe any political scandal, beginning with a national attempt by Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) to link allegations of insider trading by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) to the then-emerging Abramoff Scandal. Dean asserted that "Republicans have made their culture of corruption the norm." The phrase was thereafter repeated by other Democratic Party leaders, including Nancy Pelosi (responding to the indictment of Tom DeLay), "The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people."

List of politicians

Resigned

Lost re-election

2006 elections

Democratic party victory

Political corruption was a key issue cited by voters at exit polls during the 2006 Midterm Elections. The Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats also regained a majority of state governorships and control over a plurality of state legislatures.

Individual districts

Republican response

Background

Responding to the use of the phrase "culture of corruption" by the Democratic Party, authors Lynn Vincent and Robert Stacy McCain published "Donkey Cons" in April, 2006. A review on right-wing web site WorldNet Daily said: "Vincent and McCain do not claim that the Republican Party boasts only the good, the pure and the beautiful, as Aristotle said..." Democrat William Jefferson was re-elected in his district despite the ongoing investigation, which some political commentators such as Rush Limbaugh have decried as a hypocrisy of the "culture of corruption" label with which the DNC had been branding the Republicans.

Republicans have also accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of hypocrisy, who had promised to "drain the swamp" and have "the most open, most honest, most ethical Congress in history," while defending the unethical former House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel.

2006 Democratic party scandals

While usually avoiding using the phrase, Republicans responded to Democratic charges by pointing out that Democrats had also been involved in similar scandals. These Democrats included:

List of scandals

See also

References

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