Ethics Group Vaguely Accuse Sen. Mary Landrieu of Bribery

It appears that a watchdog group is trying to accuse Sen. Mary Landrieu of bribery. The T-P, however, mildly states the accusation:

An ethics watchdog group Tuesday asked the Justice Department and Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., violated federal bribery laws in getting a $2 million earmark for a reading program whose executives and lobbyists donated to her 2002 re-election campaign.

The money was earmarked for a Washington, D.C., public schools reading program operated by Voyager Expanded Learning, a Dallas company then headed by Randy Best.

The request for investigations came from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington via letters to the Senate Ethics Committee, the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Northern District of Texas.

Was this some form of bribery?

"Sen. Landrieu appears to have traded a $2 million earmark for $30,000 in campaign contributions," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "It was a win-win situation for Best and Sen. Landrieu, but a lose-lose for the taxpayers and D.C. schoolchildren."

Be careful when making accusations.