That's what The Office of Congressional Ethics is looking into:

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight lawmakers who held fundraisers within 48 hours of a major House vote on a Wall Street reform bill or received substantial donations from business people with a financial stake in the bill, according to congressional sources and letters.

The probe is focused on whether the timing of accepting the campaign checks created an unacceptable appearance of a conflict, according to sources familiar with the investigation and letters sent by the OCE to lobbyists requesting information. The OCE's spokesman declined to comment for this article, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The office is scrutinizing five Republicans and three Democrats, a diverse group that includes a conservative, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), and a liberal member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.).

The other members under investigation are:

• Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
• Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
• Rep. Joseph Campbell (R-CA)
• Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)
• Christopher Lee (R-NY)
• Joseph Crowley (D-NY)

Of course if these people are proven to have done wrong their punishment will be a stern wag of the finger. The problem with Congress is a lack of discipline and the fact that the Congress makes their own rules and punishment. It's time that new rules get put in place, like a rule saying if you use your office for personal gain then you face suspension or expulsion.

Until we get real reform of the rules our leaders have to follow, we will continue to be plagued by scandals like this. The saddest part is that a majority of these members constituents will never know what happened.

With an ethics probe and calls for resignation mounting against John Ensign, the embattled Senator has one friend willing to lie for him – Joe Scarborough. This morning while discussing the ongoing trouble for Ensign, Scarborough asked if anyone called for John Edwards to resign when his affair came out.

Wait! Edwards resign?

Joe apparently forgot, or hoped his viewers did that John Edwards had nothing to resign from. When his affair broke Edwards presidential run was already over and he held no public office. What does Joe expect Edwards to resign from?

And let’s talk about reactions from scandal embroiled politicians on the left and right. On the left you have Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards and Eric Massa. Where are all of them in politics today? That’s right – they are out. Edwards was already out and Spitzer and Massa resigned.

On the right we have John Ensign, Mark Sanford and David Vitter. What are they up to now? Yup – still holding office. As matter of fact when someone talks about how these people should resign, then you end up with the Joe Scarboroughs out there defending them.

I’m not one who thinks politicians should have to resign from office when they have affairs. It really should be a private matter, but it was the Republicans who chose to make the sex life of our elected leaders a public issue. And it was Republicans who constantly tried to act like they held the morale high ground in American politics. Now that the Republicans have this taint called FoleyCraigVitterSanfordEnsignGingrich, they try and say that the sex lives of politicians should be a private matter. Sorry guys – you opened up this Pandora’s Box in the 90’s and you don’t get to chose when it will be closed.

From Another Black Conservative:

This story, like so many we have all heard before, is just more proof that the big government socialist model is ineffective. Just think, horny incompetents like the ones at the SEC will soon be involved with your health care.

First I really don’t see how this has anything to do with socialism. It sounds like someone needs to meet Mr. Dictionary. But even more interesting is how they are ignoring the elephant in the room. That elephant is named Chris Cox. These incidents happened when he was the head of the SEC, before President Obama took the oath of office. Cox, a former Republican congressman, was appointed by Bush and during his tenure as the chairman of the SEC we saw porn-gate erupt.

So what proof does this story really offer? If I had to pick something, I would say it proves that Republicans can not lead. They let the people under their command do whatever they want, like surf the internet for porn while the economy, which they are supposed to protect, goes over the cliff.

As if the news of $340,000 Hawaii getaways at the expense of the RNC isn’t enough, now we have this juicy little tidbit:

The FBI, the IRS and the US Attorney's office in Tallahassee have opened a criminal investigation into the use of credit cards by top GOP officials for personal expenses, according to a report Wednesday.

All three agencies are involved in the probe, which centers on the use of Republican Party-issued American Express cards allegedly used for personal expenses.

A second investigation involving the IRS seeks to determine whether some of the credit card use effectively qualifies as tax evasion, since use for personal expenses should have been declared as income.

The IRS is said to be examining the tax records of at least three top GOP officials, including the Republican contender for one of Florida's US Senate seats. Onetime Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, now running against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for Senate, is one of the individuals being probed.

So criminal trouble not only for the Florida GOP, but also their chief tea bagger Marco Rubio. I wonder how long before tea baggers start saying that Rubio isn’t the “real tea party candidate”. We’ve seen that numerous times before.

It looks like a lot more trouble for the party of “fiscal responsibility”:

The RNC spent more than $340K at a semi-annual meeting in Honolulu in Jan., the latest example of the party spending lavishly on itself while GOP officials worry they won't have enough money to take advantage of a promising national landscape this fall.

According to FEC reports filed late Tuesday, the RNC spent $167K on facilities for the 3-day meeting, which took place at a posh resort in Waikiki. That figure doesn't include rooms and office space for the party employees who staffed the meeting, which added up to at least another $90K.

At least 33 RNC staffers and officials made the trip to HI, including top members of the political, communications and research departments, as first reported by Hotline OnCall. Party staff were reimbursed for meals and travel as part of the trip.

Already today there has been an interesting narrative evolving on this. On Morning Joe, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker said that the Democrats are just as bad. Joe Scarborough of course agreed with her. I would love to see the proof of this. Wingnuts tried this meme earlier this month, during bondage-gate, and the only expenses they could uncover was your typical hotel and limo expenses tied with fundraising. So Kathleen Parker and Joe Scarborough are trying to ignore this piss-poor management by the RNC and instead capitulate blame equally onto the Democrats.

With all the problems that have been facing David Paterson, it really seems like Spitzer and his little sexual fetishes weren’t that bad:

PIX News has learned that federal prosecutors are investigating Governor David Paterson's awarding of a lucrative contract to a politically connected group to run a gaming center at Aqueduct Raceway.

The embattled Governor who appears to have dodged the bullet of rumors and innuendo that had been circulating over a purported "bombshell" story being prepared by the New York Times, is now part of a probe by the Eastern District U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn.

Two reliable sources confirm the investigation is "very fresh," but could not say precisely what it is prosecutors are looking at other than questions about public integrity.

Paterson has been under fire by members of his own staff and legislative leaders for awarding the contract to Aqueduct Entertainment Group, a group that includes former Congressman Rev Floyd Flake, whose political support the Governor had been aggressively seeking.

I’ve been trying to stay out of the tabloid mania that is John Edwards, but this caught my interest today:

Young also said another copy has been turned over to the FBI, which has been investigating the money that exchanged hands during Edwards' second White House campaign.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.

Unless that video tape shows Edwards paying this lady then why in the hell does the FBI even need it? Edwards has admitted everything, including fathering the child, and having sex isn’t illegal, so what could this possibly add to the investigation? I can’t think of any reason.

Just in time for the next election cycle:

The Senate Ethics Committee has begun issuing subpoenas to those caught up in the sex and lobbying scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and his former aides, Doug and Cindy Hampton.

Several people close to the scandal said they received document subpoenas on Thursday from the committee asking for any records they have related to Ensign and the Hamptons.

The subpoenas from the Ethics Committee do not preclude the possibility that the Justice Department will get involved in the case —, and there are some indications that the department has already begun looking into it.