WASHINGTON — New York’s congressional delegation is giving Albany a run for its dirty money.
The Empire State has the dubious distinction of having four lawmakers on a well-publicized list of the “most corrupt” members of Congress — double the nearest competitor.
Only 17 lawmakers nationwide made the cut or got a “dishonorable mention” this year in the tally assembled annually by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“New York state could single-handedly keep the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee working overtime,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.
Coming in for a particularly strong rebuke was Rep. Tim Bishop (D-LI), who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for intervening on behalf of a wealthy constituent seeking a fireworks permit and then immediately trying through his campaign to hit up the beneficiary for a $10,000 contribution.
The constituent later termed the request “really gross.”
The Ethics Committee just announced that it had extended a probe into the matter.
Also cited were Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) and Michael Grimm (R-SI).
Grimm is under investigation by the Justice Department for possible campaign-contribution violations.
He reportedly raised more than $500,000 during the 2010 election cycle from members of the congregation of Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. Some individual contributions were allegedly over the legal limit.
“His ethics issues stem from orchestrating and accepting illegal campaign contributions,” according to the report.
Meeks is being probed for ties to several shady nonprofits. He also tookseveral Caribbean trips funded by now-convicted Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford.
CREW called the federal probe of Meeks just the “tip of the iceberg in the congressman’s litany of ethical lapses.”
Meeks also got a $40,000 loan from pal Edul Ahmad that Meeks failed to disclose until it became public. The House ethics panel closed its probe into that matter in May, saying there wasn’t evidence that the failure was “knowing or willful.”
Democratic upstate New York Rep. Bill Owens was tagged with a “dishonorable mention” for taking a four-day, $22,000 junket to Taiwan with his wife.
Once exposed, he reimbursed the sponsor, whom he identified as the Chinese Cultural University.
But investigators found that the trip was planned by the Taiwan government and Park Strategies, former Sen. Al D’Amato’s lobbying firm, which represents Taiwan.
The ethics report takes its information from documents turned over to investigative bodies in Congress and from press accounts.
Across the river, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) was cited for using campaign funds to fly to a wedding in Scotland in 2011.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made the list for failing to disclose trips he took to the Dominican Republic funded by Salomon Melgen, a wealthy campaign donor with a financial interest in legislation sponsored by Menendez.
The Associated Press reported in March that legislation sponsored by Menendez covering natural-gas vehicle conversions would have benefited Melgen, who was on the board of a company that converted diesel-fuel fleets to natural gas.
The bill initially stalled in the Senate Finance Committee and later failed to pass in a floor vote.