On Wednesday, 10 House Republicans released a joint statement declaring their intention to ban earmarks because they represent "a broken Washington." Yet, according to the group Media Matters, 8 of these 10 Republicans have requested nearly $245 million in earmarks since 2008.

Click here and scroll to the bottom to read the list of GOP lawmakers and the amounts of their earmarks.

Although we're pleased to hear these GOP members of Congress commit themselves to earmark reform, it's clear that they have been a part of the problem. It sure would have been nice to see both parties confront the earmark problem before. But better late than never.

Last month, I wrote this post about ex-Rep. Richard Pombo's (R-CA) political comeback effort -- he's running for the 19th Congressional District seat. Even though a few years have passed, Pombo can't shake his status as a former member of CREW's "most corrupt members of Congress" list.

Courtesy of the Political Blotter, we learn that Public Opinion Strategies recently polled voters in the 19th district who are considered likely to vote in the contested Republican primary for Congress. Of these voters, 77% said it was "very important" to them that their next member of Congress meet "high ethical standards."

When these same GOP voters were reminded that CREW had named Pombo to its "most corrupt" list, 80% of them said they were "less likely" to vote for him.

There's a good lesson here for ethically tainted individuals who want to re-enter politics. If you leave office with an ethical cloud hanging over you, that cloud will follow you for years.

Click here if you want a reminder of what earned Pombo a place on CREW's infamous list.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has kept quiet (at least publicly) about the scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). But when asked this week during a TV interview why he had not voiced any outrage about Sen. Ensign's actions, Steele gave a very lame answer to the Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston:

"I don't have any outrage (about the Ensign scandal) because that's not what I'm paid to look at right now. I'm paid to look at winning (election) races."

In other words, the only "E" word that matters to Steele is elections, not ethics.

Click here to view a video clip of Steele's comments, courtesy of TPM and ThinkProgress.

Click here to find out why Sen. Ensign was named by CREW as one of the 15 "most corrupt members of Congress." In case you missed it, the Ensign scandal was also named one of CREW's Top Ten Ethics Scandals in 2009.