Rep.'s Jack Murtha (D) and John Boehner (R) should be ashamed of themselves. But, they aren't. They are incumbents who have been in power too long. The attempts to reconcile differences between the House and Senate on lobbying and ethics reform has been a mess, and it is yet unclear whether the American people will get the relief they seek from legislation being bought and sold by special interests, and incumbents addicted to their legal bribes.
Ms. Meredith McGehee appeared on the C-Span program, Washington Journal, this morning to discuss the state of lobby reform in Congress. She is the policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit recipient of funding from the PEW Research Center for the People and the Press. Ms. McGehee has been a voice in the Congress for the people demanding substantial legislation and Congressional rules to overturn procedures and laws which have brought us scandal after scandal of irresponsible government at the hands of lobbyists and special interests who use money as their weapon against the will and interests of the people.
She reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Rahm Emanuel have found themselves in the enviable position where their politics and policy both run in the same direction for the benefit of the government and the people. Speaker Pelosi promised that the House of Representatives would be a fairer and more ethical seat of government when she took on her new role, and indeed, she presided over passing a substantial down payment on ethics reform in her first days as Speaker.
Both Rep.'s Pelosi and Emanuel have said they believe the viability of Democratic control of Congress depends upon their acting to clean up government unethical practices and eliminate the corruption and influence of legal bribery by wealthy special interests and lobbyists. In essence they see the future of Democratic control in government as resting on effective and powerful ethics and lobbying reform.
But, Ms. McGehee indicated that it is like trying to herd cats who have both fang and claw extended in defiance. Many Republican and Democrat incumbents are fighting to water down such reform measures, and some like Rep. Jack Murtha, an unindicted co-conspirator in the ABSCAM scandal, and Rep. John Boehner who in late June of 1995 handed out "about a half-dozen" checks from the political action committee of tobacco company Brown & Williamson Corp. to fellow Republicans on the floor of the House, are fighting such ethics and lobbying reform tooth and nail.
On the other side are Democrat and Republican freshman who believe they were elected by their constituents to clean up the corruption and bribery. These freshman Congress persons along with others are where Pelosi and Emanuel are acquiring their support to reform lobbying and end legal bribery.
Among the many issues being addressed in pending legislation is the practice of lobbyists going out with incumbents and candidates and collecting checks from donors in the Congress person's behalf, bypassing the rules and laws which limit contributions directly to a candidate. These lobbyists then aggregate the collections and deliver them to the candidate's or incumbent's campaign. Previous attempts at campaign, lobbying, and ethics reform left such loopholes in place which permit the buying of votes on legislation to continue unchecked.
While it is true, that most Congress persons are skiddish of blatant acts which would be viewed as accepting bribes in the wake of the Abramoff scandal, such self-imposed measures are sure to yield in time to temptations after public scrutiny has grown tired of the issue. This is why it is so important that ethical, effective, and comprehensive lobbying and campaign financing rules and laws be passed now while the public's memory of, and attention to, recent scandals are still reflected in the media.
But, the core of this story from my perspective is the stark difference between incoming freshman representatives who want the reforms, and the entrenched incumbents who have become addicted to the legal bribery and believe they cannot survive in office without it. It is just such a stark reflection of why voting out incumbents who become corrupt or ineffective, is such a requirement for democracy to work, and the will of the average people to be considered in the halls of government.
If you want to dig into the controversies surrounding incumbent Congress persons, I highly recommend Congresspedia's histories of Representatives and Senators.
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