Frank

1. Larry Craig gets confused

I won't begin this mistake by saying everyone and their mother has heard about Senator Larry Craig's proposal for a bathroom rendezvous, but everyone and their mother has heard about Craig's proposal for a bathroom rendezvous this year. There is no way around it.

On August 27, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call revealed that Craig had been arrested for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport men's bathroom on June 11. In fact, he tried to solicit sex from an uncover officer. Big mistake! In an interview by the arresting officer, Craig denied wrongdoing and claimed that he was a victim of entrapment, but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct on August 8. As a result, he announced his intention to resign from the Senate at a news conference on September 1, but later released a statement stated that he would stick around and just not run for re-election in 2008.

Allegations of Craig's homosexuality began in 1982 when investigative journalists pursued a rumor that he used cocaine and engaged in sex with male teenage congressional pages... It seems like Craig has been in the closet for a long time. Probably in an attempt to divert attention away from the nagging questions, Craig led an extended effort that pushed for more severe punishment of Representative Barney Frank for his involvement in a gay prostitution scandal in 1989, which just makes this mistake in 2007 greater.

The price of his mistake was only $575, but he was asked by Senate GOP leaders including Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Trent Lott (R-MS) temporarily step down as the top Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. Since this incident, eight gay men came forward to the Idaho Statesman alleging either sexual encounters with Craig, or attempts by Craig to engage in sexual encounters.

To top it off, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed an amicus curiae brief stating that the secret sting operation used by the police was not "carefully crafted" to avoid ensnaring innocent speech.

Really? Please just face it, Senator, you belong on this list for this mistake.

Advice: Either watch your stance gentlemen or just hold it. No one wants be arrested.

2. Bush's Continue involvement in Iraq

This mistake doesn't take much explanation because it could also belong on the Top Mistakes of 2002 through 2006.

There are currently about 130,000 American troops in Iraq — roughly the same number as when Bush ordered the temporary boost eight months ago, and he continues to demand more money to fund his playtime. Meanwhile, the American people and Congress demand change with no success.

Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Bush's handling of the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops and cost about a half trillion dollars. His approval rating — both for his handling of Iraq and for his overall performance — stood at 33% in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released last week.

The President has failed to offer either a plan to successfully end the war or a convincing rationale to continue it, and he continues to demand for its continuation in his annoyingly fake Texas drawl. There has been no handover of power, hardly any good news, but plenty of prisoner abuse scandals. His handling of the war has given Americans lackluster expectations for the domestic economy: worries of home foreclosures, rising gas prices, and depressing currency values.

Is it over yet?

3. Gov. Matt Blunt email scandal

Here's another reason for Kansans to be glad they're in Kansas:

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's office has been a little delete-button happy which is just a little thing the judicial courts call a violation of state law. Oops!

In September 2007, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon questioned the governor's office regarding the storage and deleting of emails because according to the state's sunshine laws, any documents that are sent through the governor's office are public record and must be accessible. This issue surfaced after a Springfield News-Leader columnist requested e-mail correspondence between Blunt's Chief of Staff Ed Martin and anti-abortion activists, but Martin responded that the governor's office did not retain e-mail records.

Sounds like no big deal... but former staff lawyer Scott Eckersley has claimed he was fired from the governor's office for criticizing the office's handling of emails, which is how Nixon's office learned of the problem. Apparently government e-mails must be maintained for as long as three years, and the Blunt Administration was destroying them like pornographic spam. Meanwhile, of course, the Blunt administration says Eckersley's employment was terminated for disciplinary infractions.

Sounds little hoosier, especially now that Blunt sent the Chief of Staff to the unemployment line shortly after this erupted.

This latest scandal in Blunt's term leads to more questions about whether the Governor is disregarding other state laws.

Deleting emails: mistake. Trying to hide other indiscretions: big mistake. Welcome to the list Gov. Blunt.

4. Gonzales's Constitutional amnesia

There are so many reasons why former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could be found on this list...

During the course of Gonzales's term beginning in 2001, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were accused of improperly, and perhaps illegally, using the USA PATRIOT Act to uncover personal information about U.S. citizens. And if that wasn't enough, his inability to explain his role and influence in the dismissal of U.S. attorneys in 2006 led several members of the United States Congress from both major political parties to call for his resignation.

On January 18 Gonzales was invited to speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he shocked the committee's ranking member, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, with statements denying the right of habeas corpus in the United States Constitution. If we follow Gonzales's rationale that he offered in this meeting, Americans would not have the right to worship as they choose, speak as they wish or assemble peacefully because the Bill of Rights only says it is prohibited to take those rights away.

After years of this ridiculous behavior, Gonzales submitted his resignation as Attorney General effective September 17, by a letter addressed to President Bush on August 26. Thoughtfully, Bush attributed the resignation to Gonzales' name having been "dragged through the mud" for "political reasons". Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) replied that the resignation was entirely attributable to the excessive politicization of the Attorney General's office by Gonzales, whose credibility with Congress, they asserted, was nonexistent. Uh, and maybe the fact that the freakin' Attorney General did not understand the U.S. Constitution. Just a thought.

Advice: Thank Ted Fred for teaching you about the First Amendment.

5. City of Lawrence

And finally because I am an equal opportunity commentator, I must name everyone's favorite hippy lawmakers— that is, the Lawrence City Commissioners— to this list.

The commissioners broke the state's open meetings law by holding a closed-door meeting in September to discuss granting more than $1 million in incentives to a local company. In particular, the commissioners offered a never-before-used property tax refund provision to entice the company to stay in Lawrence. The tax refund is similar to a tax abatement, which is required to go through a public review processes. And lo and behold, commissioners never discussed the tax refund program in a public meeting. Commissioners claim they simply misinterpreted the law, and thought the meeting was protected under attorney-client privilege.

Attorney General Paul Morrison is willing to forgo prosecution if city commissioners agree to admit their wrongdoing and personally pay for two hours of professional training on the open meetings law. From the sound of it, commissioners will accept this offer and try to close the door on this mistake. It won't be easy though, because Mayor Sue Hack has been the subject of a separate investigation by the attorney general. This investigation alleged that Hack violated conflict of interest laws by not properly disclosing that she has a financial interest of more than $5,000 in the company.

Former Mayor and now commissioner Boog Highberger said, "I believe she had no intent to do anything improper. But a serious appearance of impropriety was created here, and I don't think the mayor has done enough to correct that."

No .

Not only did Hack participate in the closed-door meeting, she did not properly complete the necessary forms disclosing her financial interest in the company.

Can someone please educate our elected leaders on what is legal and ILLEGAL?

Advice: Pay attention in government class. You might be serving with Boog in a decade or two.