Haggling All For Naught
When Nancy Pelosi gave her initial speach as Speaker-in-Waiting, she promised that the Democrats would end the Republicans’ Culture of Corruption” and that she’d run “the most ethical Congress in history.” Based on Douglas Turner’s article in the Buffalo News, all that bluster was for naught. Here’s what Mr. Turner is basing his opinion on:
On Thursday, her task force on congressional ethics floated its long-delayed reform proposal. Unfortunately, the new Democratic ethics plan would preserve the bipartisan truce that puts special interest money before the interests of the people.
The Democratic plan protects the “pay-to-play” system perfected by the GOP, supports the perpetual House incumbency and perpetuates the power of crooked, veteran House bosses. Pelosi’s task force chairman, Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., said it will be formally introduced early next month.
It creates an Office of Congressional Ethics, a grand-sounding innovation that adds a layer of bureaucracy to the existing House Ethics Committee. This office can initiate “reviews” of congressional conduct. Great. The devil, as usual, is in the details. The office will not have subpoena power. More importantly, the office will not hear complaints brought by outside entities or people. And the House Ethics Committee will not hear charges brought by outsiders, as the Senate does.
“It’s significant the new office will not ‘investigate’ but merely ‘review’ situations,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director of Campaign Legal Center, which has been pushing hard for real reform.
This is another RINO: Reform In Name Only. It’s Ms. Pelosi’s latest attempt to deceive the American people into believing that they give a damn about ethical behavior. They don’t. If they did, they would’ve run John Murtha, Allan Mollahan and William ‘Cold Cash’ Jefferson from the House months ago. This hasn’t gone unnoticed either:
“The months wasted haggling over new ethics rules have been all for naught,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. “Given that the new Office of Congressional Ethics will not accept complaints from outsiders nor have subpoena power, in effect, the song remains the same.”
CREW’s communications director, Naomi Seligman Steiner, noted that it was Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who in 1997 successfully offered a floor amendment to forbid the Ethics Committee from hearing outside complaints.
It’s worth remembering that CREW is a Soros-funded organization. There isn’t any doubt that they’ll vote for Democrats next November. What those brief paragraphs indicate is that Democrats aren’t as energized this year as last. The potential ramifications of that are profound.
History teaches us that the political party that is the most energized and works the hardests wins the most races. It naturally follows that that political party stands of regaining past majorities and/or increasing their majorities. Whether we’re talking Pennsylvania, Washington, DC or Minnesota, liberals aren’t as energized this year as last.
That might lead to Republicans recapturing the US House. As I’ve pointed out about Pennsylvania, liberal ‘good government groups’ get upset when promised reforms are gutted:
Groups like the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and Common Cause PA that have previously rallied behind the bill have withdrawn their support because of the
changes.
Does anyone think that ‘Lieberman Democrats’ aren’t seriously thinking about which candidate they’ll support? I’d be surprised if some Lieberman Democrats didn’t vote for a Republican, whether it’s Giuliani or Thompson or McCain. I’d be surprised if some Lieberman Democrats didn’t stay home or not work hard for local Democrats if they’re faced with a Nutroots lefty and a hardline Republican.
Here’s the wisest suggestion I’ve heard in awhile:
McGehee says Pelosi should tell Capuano “thanks,” scrap his report and come up with a strong new ethics office. Without a powerful outside agency with broad powers, the highly touted ethics rules passed by the House last winter are hollow.
I knew that the Democrats’ promise of cleaning up Washington’s culture of corruption was a joke. This report is just documented proof that I was right.
Technorati Tags: Reform, Ethics, Michael Capuano, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Allan Mollohan, William Jefferson, CREW, Election+2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
November 19th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
And I suppose anyone really thought that pile of human feces was really serious about getting rid of ANY sleazebucket congressman? Why would she try to change her own golden goose?