Republican politicians nowadays have a tendency to resign before they are convicted of any wrongdoing (see DeLay item below), but there appear to be different rules for Democrats. Yes, Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey pulled a modified DeLay when he pulled out of his re-election race just days before the election -- a move that should've defaulted the race to the Republican until a bunch of judges decided that it was their duty to ignore the law. But former Rep. James Traficant had to be expelled from the House after his bribery conviction.

In a similar vein, in addition to Rep. Cynthia McKinney's cop-bashing behavior, we have word that McKinney sees taxpayer money as her personal slush fund.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney admits that she broke government rules by spending money to fly a celebrity to Atlanta.

Channel 2 Action News has uncovered documents showing McKinney, D-Ga., spent about $1,000 of taxpayer's money to fly singer Isaac Hayes to Georgia to help dedicate a new office in Atlanta.

The money came from a fund members of Congress are supposed to use for office supplies.

McKinney says she will reimburse the government, but one wonders if the "mistake" would've been rectified if the press hadn't discovered it.

This once again presents us with our next waiting game: What will Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Nancy "culture of corruption" Pelosi say about McKinney's misuse of taxpayer funds? Or does that sort of thing only matter when Republicans do it?