They'll Be Finding Bush Administration Scandals Long After We're All Dead

The Hill's Murray Waas has uncovered another major Bush administration scandal. Just in case the other hundred and twenty-seven of them weren't enough for you.

This one involves the investigation of former Republican Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona. In the fall of 2006, the Justice Department granted a U.S. attorney permission to wiretap Renzi's phone. The next day an inaccurate characterization of the investigation was leaked to the press, in what, according to "Career federal law enforcement officials who worked directly on a probe" was a ploy by senior Bush administration political appointees to tip off Renzi about the wiretap thereby helping him to get re-elected. The inaccurate leak suggested that the investigation of Renzi was far less serious than it actually had been.

Renzi was eventually indicted and will go on trial September 22, on charges that include public corruption, extortion, insurance fraud and racketeering.