Lasy week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a list of the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010. CREW’s Crooked Candidates highlights 11 candidates with scandal-littered pasts and histories of questionable ethics.

Out of 2,3000 candidates running for federal office, Arizona’s very own J.D. Haworth made the list of the top 11 (and had his pictured included in the press release to boot!):

Hayworth1.content“From Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek’s shady relationship with a real estate developer to J.D. Hayworth’s close ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, to Ed Martin destroying state records – these 11 candidates represent the bottom of the barrel,” said CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “America deserves better.”

This year’s election includes the greatest number of candidates in at least 35 years. Mirroring an electoral field that skews to the right, CREW’s list includes 8 Republicans, 2 Democrats and 1 Independent. Excluding incumbents, CREW’s research team poured over news articles, blogs and public records to identify the 11 candidates. CREW’s list is unranked and appears in alphabetical order:

Roy Blunt ® U.S. Senate, MO Charlie Crist (I) U.S. Senate, FL Jeff Denham ® U.S. House, CA Alvin Greene (D) U.S. Senate, SC Timothy Griffin ® U.S. House, AR J.D. Hayworth ® U.S. Senate, AZ Ed Martin ® U.S. House, MO Kendrick Meek (D) U.S. Senate, FL Dino Rossi ® U.S. Senate, WA Marco Rubio ® U.S. Senate, FL Allen West ® U.S. House, FL


Here’s what they had to say about Hayworth:

J.D. Hayworth – Running for U.S. Senate, Arizona

crookedcandidates_hayworthJ.D. Hayworth is a candidate in the Republican primary for the United States Senate in Arizona.

Mr. Hayworth served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years before losing his 2006 bid for reelection in part due to his ethics issues. While in Congress, Rep. Hayworth drew intense criticism for his extensive ties to Jack Abramoff and for employing his wife to run his political action committee (PAC). Rep. Hayworth’s ethical issues were documented in CREW’s 2006 report on the most corrupt members of Congress. After losing his seat, Rep. Hayworth hosted a conservative talk-radio show, but he left that job earlier this year to run for Senate.

While in Congress, Rep. Hayworth accepted donations to his campaign and leadership PAC from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s clients. Rep. Hayworth also used Mr. Abramoff’s skyboxes five times without reporting the costs in his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Rep. Hayworth’s failure to report the skyboxes as campaign contributions violated federal election law, and Rep. Hayworth was later forced to repay the skybox owners. Rep. Hayworth was later cleared of any additional wrongdoing in the Abramoff scandal.

Rep. Hayworth’s ties to Abramoff also enriched his family. Between 1999 and 2007, Rep. Hayworth’s wife, Mary, worked as the sole paid employee of TEAM PAC, his leadership PAC. During that time, Ms. Hayworth was paid over $140,000. Additionally, $83,000 of the PAC donations came from Abramoff-related interests. Given that the PAC’s bookkeeping was farmed out to an accounting firm, Ms. Hayworth’s role in the PAC was unclear. Rep. Hayworth terminated the PAC in 2008.