The Republican Culture of Corruption; Indiana

Joining Ohio and Kentucky, the Indiana Republican leadership appears to have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. In what appears to be classic case of 'Pay to Play'.

In shorthand, here's what is happening: A political party's fundraising unit is coordinating with a governor's office to provide party donors access to a department head. This department head oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in road projects annually that the GOP's "friends" hope to cash in on.

At a time when INDOT is putting the finishing touches on a sweeping 10-year road construction plan, the e-mail promises meetings allowing the politically connected firms to "personally relay concerns you and your firm may be having."

Indiana Republican Party Executive Director Luke Messer said the e-mail was sent recently to about two dozen people at engineering companies -- most of them party contributors.

Typical.