Politics: USA: Democrat pro-corruption Old Guard in House of Representatives fites back vs anti-corruption Dem New Guard
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Many Democrats in the USA House of Representatives are now weaseling on the anti-corruption rules and enforcement previously promised. New York Times in a major article by David D. Kirkpatrick, "Democrats split about overhaul for ethics rules" (Nov19,2k6) details twists and turns of Democrats sliding quickly away from the clean-up operation promised for both House and Senate, headed by Sen Barack Obama.
After railing for months against Congressional corruption under Republican rule, Democrats on Capitol Hill are divided on how far their proposed ethics overhaul should go.North America > USA
Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate, mindful that voters in the midterm election cited corruption as a major concern, say they are moving quickly to finalize a package of changes for consideration as soon as the new Congress convenes in January.
Their initial proposals, laid out earlier this year, would prohibit members from accepting meals, gifts or travel from lobbyists, require lobbyists to disclose all contacts with lawmakers and bar former lawmakers-turned-lobbyists from entering the floor of the chambers or Congressional gymnasiums.
None of those measures would overhaul campaign financing or create an independent ethics watchdog to enforce the rules. Nor would they significantly restrict earmarks, the pet projects lawmakers can insert anonymously into spending bills, which have figured in several recent corruption scandals and attracted criticism from members in both parties. The proposals would require disclosure of the sponsors of some earmarks, but not all.
Now, though, some Democrats say their election is a mandate for more sweeping changes. Many newly elected candidates, citing scandals involving several Republican lawmakers last year, made Congressional ethics a major issue during the campaign. After winning the House on election night, ... Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader [now Speaker of the House], promised “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.”
Senator Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat tapped by party leaders last year to spearhead ethics proposals, said he was pushing for changes with more teeth. “The dynamic is different now,” Mr. Obama said Friday. “We control both chambers now, so it is difficult for us to have an excuse for not doing anything.”Apparently, some of the best of the lot of the Democrat Old Guard basically wants business as usual. In Feinstein's case, it has to do with former aides now serving as Fed lobbyists for various cities and counties of her home state, California.
He is pushing to create an independent Congressional ethics commission and advocates broader campaign finances changes as well. “We need to make sure that those of us who are elected are not dependent on a narrow spectrum of individuals to finance our campaigns,” he said.
Sweeping changes, however, may be a tough sell within the party. Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania [famous for his antiWar campaign], was embarrassed by disclosures last week that he had dismissed the leadership proposals with a vulgarity at a private meeting. But Mr. Murtha is hardly the only Democrat who objects to broad changes. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of the rules committee, for example, said she was opposed [to] an independent Congressional ethics watchdog. “If the law is clear and precise, members will follow it,” she said in an interview. “As to whether we need to create a new federal bureaucracy to enforce the rules, I would hope not.”
This Old Guard pattern raises questions that the influx of anti-abortionists and other new Democratic Congressmen poised against the rabid Left in the party, may back the wider range of anti-corruption changes for which Sen Obama is calling.
-- Politicarp
Further Research:
What the USA elections 2006 mean for people of faith, by Jim Wallis (Nov17,2k6)
What the USA elections 2006 mean for Religious Conservatives, by Deal Hudson (Nov15,2k6)
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