I just find it odd to describe something that happens at the federal level on average once a year[1] as atypical. (And I'm sure even more frequently at the state level).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_polit...

Once a year at more than 500 lawmakers and some number of senior executive branch appointees is <0.2%.

How many lawmakers, judges, and executive appointees do you imagine are in the habit of committing crimes? Less than 250K people are convicted of crimes every year among the entire population. That's <0.075%

Now do cops

Convictions seem like a distraction from the narrative here: Menendez fucked over his constituents. Obviously every politician that does so should be equally castigated. The court is irrelevant in this context and should be considered a trailing symptom.