Despite all the talk of ethics reform in government, Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich seems to have missed this memo. According to the New York Times, the Governor was arrested and charged with tried to sell President-elect Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. Yes, the Democratic Party’s election day honeymoon is over and it’s back to politics as usual with each party vying for the race to the bottom in dirty politics and ethics violations. The story line becomes even more bizarre because the 2nd term Governor, who cast himself as a political “reformer,” said that he and his family was under financial strain and “I want to make money.” While we’re all hurting in this economic slump, I doubt Blagojevich household was suffering as much as the families of the thousands of recently laid off American workers.

While this is still an unfolding story, this latest example of extreme corruption in politics gives me the opportunity to shamelessly promote the organizations we’re working with who are trying to clean up government. takepart today: Follow the Money with our Citizen Activist Toolkit! And, learn more from some of the organizations we’re working with:  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation.

(photo: Kimberlyfaye, Creative Commons)