Can a House Representative Hold Office if Convicted Criminal
A Cursory History of Members of Congress Breaking the Police
The abort of Florida Rep. Trey Radel for cocaine possession puts him in rarified company. Sixty-eight members of Congress have been bedevilled of crimes while in office. We decided to break downwards the numbers.
This article is from the archive of our partner 
.
The arrest of Florida Rep. Trey Radel for cocaine possession puts him in rarified company. But 68 members of the House and Senate have been convicted of crimes while in office — and only two of those were convicted of drug possession.
We decided to break down the numbers. Using this handy Wikipedia list of legislators who've been convicted of crimes — which, we hasten to betoken out, Radel has not — we looked at which states, decades, and chamber of Congress were most likely to see criminal convictions.
Convictions by chamber
This one is a gimme. The House, given that it has far more members, has seen more than convictions. Sixty-4 members of the Business firm have been convicted of crimes. Merely iv Senators accept been.
Convictions by decade
Setting bated Rep. Matthew Lyon'due south 1778 confidence for sedition, every congressmember's conviction has come since 1900.
Yous'll notice that we're on something of a downward trend. In the 1970s, a series of scandals took down members of Congress (for example, Koreagate). In the 1980s, the spike was from Abscam. In the 1990s — an array of things.
We didn't include executive branch convictions, which, thanks to Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandal, would accept made the 1970s and 1980s bars much, much college.
Convictions by land
But one representative from Radel's home state of Florida have been bedevilled of crimes: Richard Kelly, who was busted in Abscam afterward taking $25,000 in bribes by federal agents posing as Heart Eastern businessmen.
The k champions of criminal convictions? Pennsylvania. Nice work, guys.
Convictions by crime
Hither'south the really interesting stuff. Since this isn't conducive to a chart, an former-fashioned list of crimes.
- Blackmail, 11 times
- Fraud, x times
- Corruption, 9 times
- Abscam, 7 times
- Tax evasion, 3 times
- Possession, 3 times (including Radel)
- Campaign law , iii times
- Koreagate, two times
- Extortion, two times
- Embezzlement, 2 times
- Boozer driving, 2 times
Fourteen crimes fit into the category of "other." Among them: Disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice, perjury, faux disclosure, misuse of funds, sexual assault, voter fraud, manslaughter, and lewd bear. And: Leaving the scene of an accident — for which Ted Kennedy was convicted in 1969.
Incidentally, Radel holds ane record by himself.The two possession convictions were for marijuana, and accompanied other charges. Radel, if convicted, will be the only fellow member convicted of possession cocaine.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/11/brief-history-members-congress-breaking-law/355311/
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