The nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch released its most recent annual list of “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” this week, and both political parties take a hit: House Speaker John Boehner’s there, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But topping the list: President Obama — for his “catch-me-if-you-can” manner of governing, Judicial Watch said.
On its website, the watchdog group wrote: “House Speaker John Boehner has apparently become a master at what Government Accountability Institute president Peter Schweizer calls the ’Tollbooth Strategy,’ ” or when politicians charge interested parties money to move a bill through the legislative process.
And Mr. Boehner has used that method to “collect more than $200,000 in political donations from executives just days before holding votes on bills critically important to their industries,” Mr. Schweizer wrote, in his new book, “Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes and Line Their Own Pockets,” as cited by Judicial Watch.
Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, made the list for her famous Benghazi testimony, during which she responded to a question about the source of the attack, “What difference does it make?” Judicial Watch also said that “in addition to Hillary Clinton’s apparent cover-up of the role she played in the Benghazi tragedy and its aftermath, she left office in another ethical cloud about conflicts of interest in the activities of her longtime top aide Huma Abedin.”
Also on the list: CIA director John Brennan, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Attorney General Eric Holder, former IRS commissioner Steven Miller and former IRS head Lois Lerner. Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Sen. Harry Reid and Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Leading the list: Mr. Obama.
“President Barack Obama actually tops this ’Top Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians’ list for 2013 as the driving force behind so many of the misdeeds. This is Obama’s seventh straight year on the list, dating back all the way to 2007. … He is a master at catch-me-if-you-can, corrupt politics,” Judicial Watch wrote. “This year, he has again acted as a one-man Congress, rewriting entire sections of federal law on his own. Not only is his administration secretive and dishonest; its callous disregard for the rule of law undermines our constitutional republic.”
Among Mr. Obama’s worst offense: Obamacare, and “his continual lies about the ability of Americans to keep their own health insurance,” Judicial Watch said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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