The liberal Campaign Legal Center says former Democrat Vice-Presidential nominee and former U.S. Senator John Edward’s indictment on corruption charges “paints a troubling picture,” that raises the “specter of political influence peddling in the form of ‘gifts’ to candidates in high stakes campaigns.” Edward’s friends helped pay-off the mother of his secret out-of-wedlock love child while he was running in the presidential primaries, and federal prosecutors see that as secret and excessive and therefore illegal contributions to his failed campaign for President. There are other related claims of criminality. But even then the Campaign center complains of delays in prosecution, a feeble FEC enforcement posture, and urges broader actions including against former U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who is alleged to have arranged employment in exchange for silence in connection with a sex scandal.

Reports in the New York press and from Europe suggest that friends of the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the “champagne socialist” who was on his way to what might… Read More