There’s a new problem that just cropped up for the ethically-challenged Blue Dog, Rep. Mike Ross, on the heels of news reports about his possibly illegal pharmacy sale to a major pharmacy chain with a major stake in health insurance reform. It seems that CREW, an ethics watchdog group, has just filed a complaint with the Justice Department regarding Rep. Ross. Here’s their reason for doing so:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Ross engaged in bribery and honest services fraud by selling a commercial property for more than its worth to a pharmacy chain with an interest in pending legislation.

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“Given that Rep. Ross received a personal financial benefit conservatively valued at no less than $143,850 and probably a great deal more, both the sale of the property for $420,000 and payment of no less than $100,001 for the covenant not to compete certainly merit criminal investigation,” CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said in a statement.

So far, Rep. Mike Ross has refused to comment on this developing story that was first reported by ProPublica which he calls an attack from a "leftist outlet." So I guess the congressional newspapers that further carried this story such as The Hill, Roll Call, and CQPolitics, are known as "leftist outlets" to Rep. Ross. I wonder what that makes us here at FireDogLake?

We’ll see whether the Department of Justice actually investigates the complaint registered by CREW, and whether that might cause more problems for Rep. Ross down the road.

We’re also close to our goal of $78,000 for the ad we’re running against Rep. Ross and Senator Lincoln in Arksansas. We’re just $5,000 away from meeting our goal, so please donate if you can to push us over the goal line!