35 Ways to Say "Corrupt": Rep. Renzi Indicted for Insurance Fraud and Shady Land Deals

Hats off to our friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), who helped uncover and publicize the dubious land exchange that led to Rep. Rick Renzi's (R-AZ) recent indictment.  In case you missed the news over the weekend, Rep. Renzi was indicted late last week by a federal grand jury on 35 counts of corruption.  As reported by the New York Times and Washington Post, Rep. Renzi was under investigation for stealing money from his insurance company's clients and orchestrating a federal land swap that benefited himself and a former business partner, among other crimes. 

As a Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Renzi essentially forced his constituents to purchase land owned by his former business partner, James Sandlin, who owed Rep. Renzi money from a previous land swap.  According to the indictment, Rep. Renzi received $733,000 from Sandlin for helping to engineer the deal, and in the process, "deprived the citizens of Arizona of his honest services as a United States elected representative." 

TCS has frequently criticized this type of legislated land exchange, which leaves little room for public oversight and tends to benefit private interests. 

-- Michael Smallberg