All in the family

The family business is a time honored tradition in the United States, but when that business is politics, the grift is built in:

Thirty-two members of Congress dispensed more than $2 million in campaign funds to pay relatives' salaries during the 2012 election cycle, a USA TODAY analysis of the most recent campaign records shows.

Lawmakers have hired their children, spouses, aunts, parents and in-laws as consultants, accountants and record keepers, the examination shows. In some cases, multiple members of the family joined the payroll.

It's entirely possible that some of these family members are well qualified to do the work. Equally possible, that many of them aren't doing much of anything to draw those paychecks. The system invites cheating. On the bright side at least they're just fleecing the rubes who donate to them and not using the taxpayers' money to do it.

Also this is one of the few times that it's actually true -- both sides do it.