GOP Congressman Ken Calvert (CD 41 44) is facing relentlessly negative press coverage in his reelection bid.  Calvert, whose district includes San Clemente and the Inland Empire, has again been placed on the "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" list by (the left wing) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).  (Only 4 Democrats made the 22-member list.)  But, now the conservative Rutherford Institute has joined in piling on Calvert.

In an articled entitled, "Rule by Thieves", Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead plainly labels Calvert as corrupt, even lumping him in with the infamous (jailbird) Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.  The Rutherford Institute, a conservative Christian civil liberties organization, came to prominence when it helped Paula Jones to sue President Bill Clinton in 1997. 

Whitehead asks, "Where were our representatives when Wall Street moguls were in effect stealing the country blind? The answer is simple: many in Congress were doing the same thing, in one fashion or another. Indeed, having the present Congress investigate the Wall Street fiasco is like having a fox investigate a murder in the chicken coop."  Calvert, he argues, is an example of the "kinds of corruption that have become associated with elected officials of all political persuasions."

Calvert's dubious land dealings have faced ongoing negative coverage.  According to press reports, Calvert and his business partners purchased a tract of land from the Jurupa Community Services District for $1.2 million in 2006.  The Riverside grand jury found that the sale violated California law because the surplus property was not first offered to other agencies, notably the Jurupa park district, which had expressed interest in the property as far back as 2001.

Voters have since voted by a 3-1 margin, in a recent mail-in election, to use eminent domain to seize the property from Calvert and his partners.  The Jurupa park district has sued the community services district over the sale, alleging fraud and deceit.

While Calvert (who is facing an FBI investigation) has survived negative press coverage in the past (including coverage of his dalliance with a prostitute), the eminent domain vote raises the question of whether conservative GOP voters will turn Calvert out in November or whether the GOP establishment will run a conservative against him in 2010 who is less tarnished and less reflects the Washington Republican excesses that consigned the GOP to minority status.