Although this isn’t exactly corruption, per se, U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston—who harangued President Clinton for immoral sex with an intern—had just been elected Speaker of the House when it emerged he’d had his own affairs. The successor in his House seat, David Vitter, availed himself occasionally of prostitutes run by the famous D.C. Madam; today, he is a U.S. senator. Another statewide office with a history of sleaze is the insurance commissioner, whose three consecutive occupants got, in turn, 25 years in 1991 for influence-peddling; 41 months in 1993 for selling $80,000 worth of insurance licenses; and six months in 2001 for lying to an FBI agent. The head of the Louisiana Film Commission took $60,000 in bribes. In the Statehouse, where congressmen voted to more than double their salary in 2008, the Senate Ethics Committee chairman himself will stand trial shortly for income-tax evasion; the sponsor of a new ethics bill is accused of taking legal fees from companies doing business with a state univer …

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