Renzi Wont Go

Oh joy, our corrupt congress critter, Rick Renzi, says he wont resign in the face of his corruption indictments:

Representative Rick Renzi, the Arizona Republican who was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on 35 corruption charges, issued a statement on Monday saying that he would not resign despite signals from Republican leaders in Congress that they would welcome his swift departure.

“I will not resign and take on the cloak of guilt because I am innocent,” Mr. Renzi declared in the statement. “My legal team of Reid Weingarten and Kelly Kramer will handle these legal issues whileI continue to serve my constituents.”

A grand jury last week indicted Mr. Renzi on a raft of corruption charges, including fraud, money laundering and extortion. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Renzi pressured constituents to purchase land from his business partner in exchange for his support for legislation that the constituents needed. At least $733,000 in proceeds from the land sale were funneled back to Mr. Renzi, according to the indictment.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/renzi-says-he-wont-resign/

Actually, I'm kind of glad he's not resigning. If he resigns prior to May 4th, there will be a special election to fill the remainder of his term, which could help a Republican candidate gain recognition. By staying, he remains a great symbol of the Republican "culture of corruption" which should help Democrats.

The next question should be about Renzi's role as co-chairmen of John McCain's Arizona campaign. It sounds like he'll be quietly leaving:

Mr. Renzi had been serving as a Arizona state co-chairman of Senator John McCain’s campaign for president. But Mr. McCain has indicated that Mr. Renzi would be resigning that post.

Tying McCain's questionable ethics to Renzi's criminal indictment seems to be a good strategy going forward.