As if the McCain camp needed any more awkward news this week, Arizona congressman Rick Renzi has just been indicted on 35 counts of extortion, fraud, and money laundering.
The charges outlined against Renzi -- who announced his retirement from politics when the justice department began investigating him -- are impressively nefarious. In addition to embezzling more than $400,000 from an insurance company owned by his family, Renzi allegedly pressured two companies to buy land from an associate who owed him money in exchange for his backing of federal land-swap legislation.
The indictment is hardly unexpected for Republicans on Capitol Hill, but McCain might have thought to remove Renzi from his list of "Arizona campaign co-chairs " once the dark legal clouds began circling. After Vicki Iseman and Bob Allen, the Republican nominee hardly needs any more questionable friends.
