CREW:

CREW released, Family Affair, our first-ever analysis of the misuse of power by the chairmen and ranking members of all House of Representative committees and subcommittees, as well as top leadership positions, to financially benefit their family members. The new report names 96 members from 33 states: 44 Democrats and 53 Republicans. Again, these 96 members constitute only those U.S. Representatives holding key positions in the House.

USA Today published an exclusive article about Family Affair in Monday's edition of the paper:

Seventy-two members of the House of Representatives spent $5.1 million in campaign funds to pay relatives or their relatives' companies or employers during the past six years, a liberal watchdog group says in a report to be released Monday.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) found nearly $3.5 million in campaign payments to relatives during the past three election cycles, from 2001 to 2006. Campaigns paid about $1.6 million to firms owned by or employing the lawmakers or their relatives, the group found.

While these numbers don't quite work out for me...(new math?)...there's no denying that this is a problem that having a working ethics committee (Tom Delay anyone?) might have curtailed.