Will Al Franken get what he richly deserves? Don't hold your breath!

The self-righteous, hypocritical, grandstanding, blowhard Al Franken richly deserves to be censured and removed from office. But unless he voluntarily steps down, don't hold your breath waiting on an Ethics Committee investigation because that committee is where the Senate sends things to be buried, not properly adjudicated.

Why do you think that Franken was quick to embrace an Ethics Committee investigation of his sexual assault and misdeeds? Or why Chuck Schumer and others quickly chimed in to join Mitch McConnell's call for an investigation? Because the Ethics Committee is where questions of wrongdoing are sent to be buried, not actually adjudicated. And the reason is simple: our Congress has too many other members who believe themselves above the law and who are guilty of the same misdeeds. The last thing they want to see is establishing precedents that will open themselves up to scrutiny and punishment.

Since 2007, the Ethics Committee has received 613 allegations of wrongdoing and has summarily dismissed more than 90% of them. Only 75 have had even a preliminary investigation. Guess how many punishments have been meted out as a result of those investigations? That would be a big fat ZERO. Yep, the investigations that did proceed drug on forever and came back with zilch. Are we to really believe that our members of Congress are of such high integrity that there has not been a single instance of misdeeds?

Apparently, Congressonal misdeeds may be particularly prevalent when it comes to sexual misconduct. Thirty years ago the program for young Congressional Pages was ended because so many of them ended up being molested. Today, we are learning that the sexual mistreatment of congressional staffers is such an open secret that there is a "tweeting underground" which warns new Congressional interns which Members offices to stay away from to avoid harrassment and assault. Most of us are also just learning that there is a "shush" fund in Congress where millions of dollars in taxpayer money has been paid to quietly settle sexual and other harassment claims. Representative Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) reports that since 1997, over $15 Million has been paid out in the House alone.

Hopefully, the "Me Too" movement will result in women continuing to come forward, especially in recent incidents involving sitting members of Congress and their staffs, as well as offices throughout government - because all signs are that just like in the entertainment business and elsewhere, what we have seen so far is just the tip of a very big iceberg. Maybe, just maybe, the momentum will continue and for once the news cycle will not move on in a few weeks, begin to fade from our attention, and enable the corrupt officials return to business as usual. Vile business.

When it comes to Congress and likely many other government agencies, it isn't just a swamp that needs to be drained, it is a cesspool.