Cleaning up Dodge City

The two leading candidates to succeed Tom DeLay as majority leader:

Roy Blunt...

n 2003, Rep. Blunt divorced his wife of 31 years to marry Philip Morris (now Altria) lobbyist Abigail Perlman. Before it was known publicly that Rep. Blunt and Ms. Perlman were dating -- and only hours after Rep. Blunt assumed the role of Majority Whip -- he tried to secretly insert a provision into Homeland Security legislation that would have benefitted Philip Morris, at the expense of competitors.

In addition, Rep. Blunt'­s son Andrew lobbies on behalf of Philip Morris, a major client he picked up only four years out of law school. Notably, Altria is Rep. Blunt'­s largest campaign contributor, having donated more than $270,000 to political committees tied to him.

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In 2003, Rep. Blunt also helped his lobbyist son Andrew by inserting a provision into the $79 billion emergency appropriation for the war in Iraq to benefit U.S. shippers like United Parcel Service, Inc. and FedEx Corp. The provision required that military cargo be carried only by companies with no more than 25% foreign ownership. UPS and FedEx were seeking to block the expansion of a foreign-owned rival'­s U.S. operations. Andrew Blunt lobbies on behalf of UPS in Missouri, and UPS and FedEx have contributed at least $58,000 to Rep. Blunt since 2001.

and John Boehner

After the GOP takeover in 1994, DeLay worked with Gingrich in monitoring interest groups' contributions to Republicans, but it was only at the beginning of the 106th Congress that he formalized his relationship with lobbyists. House GOP Conference Chairman John A. Boehner (Ohio) had been the official liaison with business interests, and after his defeat DeLay took over his duties, organizing K Street on his own terms -- he calls it "a mirror whip operation" -- in order to pass legislation.

It took the Republiconvicts no more than three days following Abramoff's plea deal announcement to unseat "The Hammer," their former benefactor. But if you had the impression that the GOP is serious about cleaning up their institutionalized corruption, the elevation of either Blunt or Boehner should surely disabuse you of that notion.