So here I am taking a break from some pretty heavy efforts to head off an imminent return of Bush-republicans to office to comment on the most recent, and extremely predictable, scandal here in NY State.

As I scan most of the country, including NY State, I see a Republican Party awash in corruption, scandals, racism and intolerance. When Carl "Horse Sex" Paladino and Christine "Mouse Brain" O'Donnell are your poster children, you have serious problems and whatever happens November 2nd, the bulk of the Republican Party candidates this year are either scandals in progress or scandals waiting to happen. And the thing is this has been the case now for more than a decade and it was these scandals that led to Republicans taking such a beating throughout the country in 2006 and 2008 and I believe will deliver them a beating again soon. It seems corrupt Republicans cannot or will not learn their lesson. (for a nice rundown on Republican Corruption, visit the good folks at Liberals Like Christ).

Unfortunately, here in NY State it seems Democrats and other leftists also have trouble learning the same lesson.

Clarence Norman

Diane Gordon

Vito Lopez

John Sampson

Steve DiBrienza

Working Families Party

All scandals past or present. Some in jail, some under investigation, some are reveling in charges being dropped after a good deal of money had to be shifted around to bring them in compliance with laws they broke. All are embarrassments to the left.

I won't include the obvious scandals of Hiram Monserrate, Pedro Espada and Rueben Diaz because no one in their right minds can really call them Democrats.

People are acting so surprised at the latest of these scandals, the Vito Lopez investigations and John Sampson's scandal. No one, NO ONE should be surprised because people like Gary Tilzer and myself, not to mention the likes of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, have been sounding the alarm on these people for years now. Not one of the investigations against Vito Lopez is new. All have been extensively reported on over and over. Yet suddenly everyone wakes to the fact that he is a corrupt sleaze.

I remember challenging David Yassky on his endorsement of John Sampson when Sampson ran for Brooklyn DA on the "get Clarence Norman off the hook" platform. Anyone who watched Sampson back then (hear that Yassky?) should have been able to predict the current events. Sampson was up to his neck in Clarence Norman era corruption, so why are people surprised now? Add to this the fact that Gary Tilzer has been publicizing this very scandal for many months now at True News from Change NYC. Now the fact that Gary Tilzer squanders his unquestionably dedicated efforts to attacking everyone who doesn't agree with him 100% makes him a little hard to follow sometimes, but give credit where credit is due. The Sampson scandal was reported on by Gary MANY months before the mainstream media woke up to it.

Now I have been hearing people bemoan the fact that these scandals give Republicans (who of course are MUCH MORE corrupt, corrupt to the very heart of their Party) ammunition to use against us in a critical election year.

Well NO SHIT, SHERLOCK! This is PRECISELY why I have been hammering away at the corruption of the sleaze within the left, whether it be Clarence Norman, Vito Lopez, WFP or John Sampson for so many years now. I have been warning my fellow Democrats and progressives for years now that we are handing ammunition to the Republicans on a silver platter every time we elect sleaze and every time we turn the other way when such corruption as Vito Lopez's is tolerated within our Party. I have dedicated far more time on a national scale to exposing Republican Corruption, targeting such uber-Sleaze as Roy Blunt of Missouri, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Super Lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It used to be if you Googled "Republican Corruption" my (now outdated) blog came up first on the list. Now I' third and Liberals Like Christ have regained first place.

But the more the left tolerates the likes of John Sampson, Vito Lopez or the WFP scandal, the harder it is to argue that we are a better choice for voters. I have been saying that for years. Why are so many only waking up to that now?

We cannot ignore ongoing scandals and scandals waiting to happen within our ranks. The fallout from the Vito Lopez and John Sampson scandals in this critical election year were completely predictable and yet the Democratic Party ignored the warnings.

Well, there are other scandals waiting to happen. Personally I have my money on Bill de Blasio and Steve Levin being the most blatantly obvious scandals waiting to happen who also happen to be the darlings of the local Democratic Party and WFP. Wake up folks. One day they will be embarrassments who give Republicans ammunition in a critical election year. Steve Levin was Vito Lopez's right hand man when all the Lopez corruption was happening so he must have known about it if not actually participated. I still maintain his only path to avoiding getting hit with the scandal will be to turn state's evidence. And Bill deBlasio, perhaps in one of his more honest moments, has been overheard admitting that the way to political success in NYC is to do whatever the developers tell you to, a statement that matches his political actions.

I'd add David Yassky to that mix, given his ties to John Sampson and Steve DiBrienza, but so far Yassky has shown himself unable to get elected to anything higher than his former city council seat, so perhaps he and the rest of us will be saved from having to be embarrassed by a Yassky scandal one year. Brad Lander is another who comes to mind, but to be perfectly honest, though I find his anger management and ego problems to be very off putting, I have a gut feeling that Lander is not at heart corrupt the way Vito Lopez and Clarence Norman became. I could see Lander getting caught in a scandal not of his making, but I don't see him as corrupt himself.

Of course there are many others who are scandals waiting to happen. Look at almost anyone Vito Lopez ever endorsed. Many are good folks, but many also had to do something to earn that endorsement, and that is often going to be something that could erupt into a scandal some day.

I always argue that despite our problems, the Democratic Party remains far less corrupt and far more in tune with voters than the Republican Party. But that will be lost in the right wing noise machine as long as we tolerate the likes of Vito Lopez, John Sampson and Steve Levin within our ranks. YES, these scandals play into the Republican's hands. And had the Democratic Party listed to us reformers, that ammunition would have been defused years ago.

My question for my fellow Democrats, for Andy Cuomo, our likely next Governor, and John Liu, a probably mayor of NYC some day, and for Lew Fidler, a Vito ally who still knows right from wrong...here is my question: will we learn the lesson or will we continue to make the same mistake the Republicans continue to make and thus hand them the best weapon they could ever want?