Somewhere among the maggoty trash dredged out of the pile of sleaze left behind by Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, there’ll be an honest man. That man, however, is not DeLay’s former chief of staff Edwin A. Buckham. Founder of the U.S. Family Network, a lobbyist group claiming to promote pro-family legislation in Washington, Buckham and his wife Wendy allegedly used one-third of the USFN’s $3.02-million (U.S.) in revenues to benefit no family but their own.

At its inception, Buckham, an evangelical minister, described the USFN’s goal as being the delivery of “social improvement, moral fitness and general well-being” to America. He then went about entertaining Jack Abramoff, profiting from “donations” by Jack’s top clients.

Among the USFN’s morally fit campaigns was one to prevent tougher cigarette regulations. Office expenses included a $20K Royal Doulton vase and $60K-worth of art prints. Along with her commission cheques, Wendy was paid for accounting services, despite records showing the USFN paid an accounting firm for the same work.

Though the USFN folded under a 2001 investigation, its records have been subpoenaed by the FBI, presumably as part of ongoing investigations into Abramoff’s many evils.

» Scott Saxon