Since Bush took office in 2000, the Republican party seems to have done nothing but commit crime after crime after crime all while doing little or nothing for the country they claim to serve.

In light of the latest conviction this week in Ohio, I thought it would be nice to start a running count of the crimes of the Republican party, to really give this fact the impact it needs:

• James Tobin, former RNC official
  Jim Tobin was Bush’s 2004 campaign chairman for New England, but he’s better known as the guy who orchestrated the jamming of Democratic and labor union phone banks on Election Day 2002. In spite of the RNC’s “zero tolerance” policy against vote tampering, they have paid over $700,000 for lawyers defending Tobin.
• Karl Rove, White House deputy chief of staff
  Karl Rove leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to the press in attempt to quiet criticism of the case for war in Iraq. When investigation into the leak began, Rove lied to federal investigators, and withheld information.
• John Ashcroft, former attorney general
  John Ashcroft - as attorney general - stalled the investigation of his long-time friend and business associate Karl Rove for leaking the CIA officer’s identity. After mounting pressure, Ashcroft finally recused himself from the case, and eventually retired from his position as attorney general. This week, the leak investigation drew his name back into the spotlight.
• Scooter Libby, chief of staff to the Vice-President
  I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is the second of two sources in the White House who breached national security by leaking the CIA agent’s identity to the press.
• Randall “Duke” Cunningham, California Representative
  Government lawyers filed a lawsuit last month seeking forfeiture of Cunningham’s Rancho Santa Fe house, a clear indication that prosecutors believe they have found proof of bribery violations by the congressman. Cunningham sold his house to a Pentagon contractor who sold it a few months later at a $700,000 loss, while the contractor’s company was getting millions of dollars in government contracts. Since then, he has been under investigation for: living rent-free aboard the contractor’s yacht, accepting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the contractor, deals with a businessman convicted in a kickback scheme, and flying in a private jet leased by another contractor whose company has also gotten millions of dollars in Pentagon contracts.
• Tom DeLay, Texas Representative
  Tom DeLay has been under investigation for a few years now for ethics violations regarding ties to lobbyists, foreign trips, and use of campaign funds.
• Jack Abramoff, Republican lobbyist
  Jack Abramoff was indicted in Florida on August 11 on charges that he defrauded two lenders of $60 million to buy a casino cruise line. Abramoff is also under investigation over millions of dollars he was paid by an Indian tribe for lobbying efforts, and he is closely linked to Tom DeLay.
• Conrad Burns, Montana Senator
  Conrad Burns was the #1 recipient of campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff. He was also nice enough to hire Shawn Vasell, former top aide to Abramoff, as his Montana state director. Vasell was recently charged with four counts of poaching for illegally killing a dear.
• Tom Noe, former Republican county chair
  Tom Noe helped shuffle some voting laws before 2004 that certainly helped in Bush’s sham re-election. But better yet, Noe - a rare coin dealer - got authority to invest $50 million of Ohio’s funds into rare coins and baseball cards. When $300,000 worth of gold coins went missing, eyebrows got raised. Now his lawyer acknowledges that up to $12 million in assets can not be accounted for.
• Bob Taft, Ohio Governor
  Taft was the first Ohio governor ever charged with a crime. He was convicted of failing to disclose 52 gifts including dinners, golf outings and professional hockey tickets, all worth about $5,800 dollars.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger, Caw-le-fawn-ya Governator
  Schwarzenegger is fighting ethics charges regarding some lucrative magazine endorsements that were still paying him money while he ran California as its governor.

If I missed anybody, let me know!

UPDATE
Andrew Taylor at the Associated Press seems to see the same trend I do, though he also points out Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, a Democrat whose home was raided this month in relation to a scandal of his own. Having a scandalous Democrat does take some of the fire out of the "crooked Republicans" argument, but nearly a dozen of them versus one of ours still makes a strong argument, I think.