Is the Bartering of Official Acts a Criminal Act?

• By C. Simon Davidson
• Roll Call Contributing Writer
• June 28, 2011, Midnight

Last week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed an ethics complaint against Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), alleging he committed bribery by threatening to block a proposed pay raise for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unless Salazar’s department issued a minimum number of deep-water exploratory permits in the Gulf.