Taxpayers for Common Sense just came out with tallies for the members of Congress who've collected the most earmarks and right near the top of the list are both Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), both of whom are in the middle of corruption investigations.

You're under investigation for abusing your position on the House Appropriations Committee...so you fire the people who investigate that very thing.  Such appears to be the strategy of Rep. Jerry Lewis.  He claims it was a "bipartisan" decision...but it wasn't.

Will corruption matter in this year's elections?  PBS' NOW program asks that question (summary and segment via Raw Story) about California Rep. Jerry Lewis in particular, under investigation for his relationship with lobbyist Bill Lowery and yet not in great danger of losing his seat.

K Street's "Queen of Earmarks," Letitia White is coming under the microscope again for the lucrative career she's built as a former staffer to Rep. Jerry Lewis who went on to lobby the congressman.

An interesting (if alarming) companion piece to the Brent Wilkes profile below is this article from the Los Angeles Times about the "Triangle Trade" between six California congressman, business interests, and well-connected lobbyists.

Brent Wilkes, the defense contractor implicated in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal and possibly in the developing investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis, talks to the New York Times about his lucrative career trading campaign cash for earmarks - or what he calls "transactional lobbying."