Incumbents profiting from inept Congressional Ethics Committees
According to the Congressional Ethics Coalition, an ideologically diverse group of leading government reform organizations, the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff is one of the biggest issues facing the 109th Congress. Yet both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate ethics committees say they have no plans to investigate!
The coalition is calling on both the House and Senate ethics committees to immediately begin investigations to determine whether members of Congress have violated Congressional ethics rules, including investigating the various members of Congress having dealings with Abramoff. They will not likely be responded to, however, for an ethics ''truce'' is in place because threats of partisan payback has silenced the process; the House
Ethics Committee did not function during the entire year of 2005 in spite of numerous pending cases.
As the coalition reminds us, ethics on the Hill is no longer about ''what is right'' but about ''what you can get away with.'' The way to fix this is through effective enforcement. Unfortunately, we can count on most of our incumbents to not do the right thing, for they do not want to risk losing their re-elections this year. Vote Out Incumbents for Democracy calls for Congressional campaigners in November, who will act ethically on behalf of the American people; we will continue our call for the voting out irresponsible incumbents, year after election year, until we, the American people, enjoy ethical, responsible, and accountable representation!
Comments
It doesn't surprise me that no one in D.C. wants to investigate this.
They're all dirty.
Voters can fix it, or suffer the consequences of inaction.
The corruption and irresponsibility of government is growing worse every year.
The longer we wait to correct this situation, the more damage that will be done, the more debt we will have to deal with, the more alienated our allies will become, and the more difficult it will be to reform so many perverted systems, and solve so many problems.
How bad does it have to get before voters do something? Do we have to wait until it is too late?
In Dallas and Denton county, foreclosures are at the highest rate since 1989. I think this may be telling us something? China and Japan backing away from investing in more U.S. debt. The government is starting to print too much money. Interest rates and inflation are on the rise, and median wages have fallen 4 years in a row. But, the spin masters keep telling us how good everything is. It is just an illusion, as the $32 trillion of nation-wide personal debt, and the $8.2 trillion national debt continue to grow ever larger.
Now is not the time to also have a corrupt, do-nothing, bought-and-paid-for, fiscally and morally irresponsible government. Decades of fiscal irresponsibility are catching up to us. The national debt is now 66% of GDP (up from 33% of GDP in 1980). We have growing energy vulneraabilities, very few mass transit systems, an aging population, and 77 million baby boomers about to start earning less, paying less taxes, spending less, and expecting to start drawing from already troubled Social Security and Medicare systems.
It's not hard to see all of this culminating to create some sort of significant economic downturn. But, no reforms will be passed and no problems will be addressed until voters force reforms. The only way to do that is to do the responsible thing voters are supposed to do. Always vote out irresponsible incumbents. Not one election. All elections, until there are no irresponsible incumbents left. Then they will start to police their own ranks, and voters will be amazed by the progress that follows, and wonder why the hell they didn't do it sooner.
Posted by: d.a.n | February 9, 2006 11:09 PM
Why would they want to investigate? They might expose themselve. And why should they? They know their guilty.
The thing they need to do is step down from office and let someone else that's not out for themselve run things for a while. Of course that won't happen so it's up to the voters to show them the door.
Posted by: Ron Brown | February 10, 2006 1:08 PM
The sad part is that the incumbent politicians have golden parachutes.
They've been gettin' theirs, and still are.
After incumbents have thoroughly messed things up, the incumbents will be OK, but the average voter will suffer the most.
The elitist PC (Political Class) will be just fine.
_______________________
I see PC people !
Posted by: d.a.n | February 14, 2006 10:55 AM
I, too, can see why nobody on Capitol Hill wants to see an investigation. 98% of them are at least a little bit dirty and more than half of them are filthy. It's time to get rid of them and their dirt.
In November 2006, when we get our chance to get rid of 1/3 of those dirty senators and pretty much all of the house of representatives, we can insist on progress. In 2008, when we get rid of the rest of them, we can work toward a bright future for this country and the American people who believe enough in the system to keep pulling those levers, touching those screens and casting those ballots.
But our job won't be done. When we have voted those newly elected officials into their offices, we must not sit back and expect them to do all the thinking for us the way we have done in the past. If we do, then we will be right back in the same mess. We have to make sure they know what we think and why.
My suggestion is that what exists today is a total loss. We need to pick our 2006 candidates today and start supporting them with all we have in order to make the changes. Do you know who your candidates are for November 2006?
Posted by: Abbe Allen | February 27, 2006 11:22 AM