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GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposal

By Last Night in Little Rock, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 12:13:47 AM EST
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by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that, with the GOP leading, both parties in Congress are proposing new ethics rules to limit relations with lobbyists.

Barn door? Damage control?

Update (TL): AmericaBlog reports on the loophole which Atrios says is hilarious. Sean-Paul at Agonist says it's a bad idea for Democrats to get involved in the lobbying reform debate. Firedoglake weighs in.

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    GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposal | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#1)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 05:13:30 AM EST
    Well, someone needs to talk about it. This WaPost article shows how the wealth was spread by Abramoff. The top three Demos were Kennedy, Murray and Reid. The top three Repubs were Burns, Hayworth and Hasert. What this doesn't show is the money from other lobbyists, in-kind value of free travel and money paid by clients of Abramoff's and other lobbyists.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 06:04:51 AM EST
    Well, someone needs to talk about it. Ah, if only. Unfortunately, the GOP seem desperate to pretend that this is a bipartisan scandal, rather than accepting the fact that this is exclusively a Republican scandal about Republican corruption, and that if they want to be taken seriously, they need to first put their own house in order.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#3)
    by marty on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 07:14:35 AM EST
    The idea the Republicans can somehow fix this is laughable.....this whole sordid operation was by DESIGN....the K Street Project was designed by DeLay and his cronies. They began it as part of the '93/'94 "revolution" and have been implementing it relentlessly and non-stop ever since. The only way to correct it would be to disband the Republican Party. Anyone buying this BS that this is a bi-partisan scandal, or that it is only a few bad apples straying over the ethical line is a fool.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 07:39:27 AM EST
    Jesurgislac: ...the GOP seem desperate to pretend that this is a bipartisan scandal, rather than accepting the fact that this is exclusively a Republican scandal about Republican corruption Exactly... classic combination of projection and viewing all of their problems as PR issues. After all, no one would criticize them if they could only "see the light".

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#5)
    by desertswine on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 07:40:59 AM EST
    Barn door? Damage control?
    Theater.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#6)
    by soccerdad on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 07:53:34 AM EST
    I think there are at least 2 issues here. First the corruption scandal, illegal contributions, is strictly a Republican issue. Jesurgislac and Marty have spoken to that quite well. The second issue is excessive, but legal, contributions from special interest groups that end up winning the loyalty of the people of Congress, rather than the members being loyal to the people who elected them. The solution to this is easy in principle, ban all contributions from every single special interest group period. This would involve rewrinting campaign finance laws. Will never ever happen. So the overt and illegal behavior of the Republicans may or may not be stopped, true reform is not a possibility since both Dems and Repubs are addicted to the money stream. One only need to look at the Clintons, Biden, the DLC etc to see that their first loyalty is to the people who supply the big bucks, corporations, their lobbyists and the rich. Any Dem who runs in the primaries on a progressive or pro-worker, etc platform will be destroyed by the leadership of the Dem party working with the corporate owned media. In the end, this is why on a National level the Dem party has abandoned its traditional base, workers and minorities. There is no money in it. They simply count on them voting dems because they are less objectional than repubs. in 2008, if the Dems nominate yet another rich, corporate-friendly "centerist" [code word for corporate lackey] Dem voters should just stay home and let the party crash and burn. That is the only hope for turning it around.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 09:28:50 AM EST
    Once more for the learning impaired: abramoff gave ZERO MONEY TO DEMS!!! And the rethuglican proposal would still allow the lobbists to pay for travel and food ... as long as they donated to the campaigns. Some law.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#8)
    by swingvote on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 09:40:05 AM EST
    Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#9)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 09:53:33 AM EST
    Barn door? Damage control?
    Lifeboat. A proposal to keep the current system intact while appearing to fix it.

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#10)
    by Dadler on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 10:37:00 AM EST
    Quaker, Exactly. "The more things change, the more they stay the same" is echoing in my head. Foxes designing a more hidden entrance to the henhouse

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#11)
    by glanton on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 11:18:18 AM EST
    Any Dem who runs in the primaries on a progressive or pro-worker, etc platform will be destroyed by the leadership of the Dem party working with the corporate owned media.
    Boy did you get that right! But what's funny is how so many on the Right deny this, a simple truth akin to the statement "water is necessary to life." Still, it's funny, we have to admit; even as what you describe manifests itself in clear daylight we still get hacks posting on TL, after staying alert and staying with Fox, referring to Hillary Clinton as a "left wing harpy" or John Kerry as a "leftist." Christ of either of those two had their heads any further up the corporate rectum they'd suffocate. :-0

    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#12)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 18, 2006 at 07:59:10 PM EST
    Et al - Wow. All of you rattling on about "Repubs only" when the WaPost article is right there. Linked to in the very first comment. I have never seen such denial. Double wow. No, make that triple wow. From the link:
    The charts below reflect 1999-w004 contributioms by Abramiff, his tribal clients and the lobbyists that make up Team Abramoff: Some Demo names - Kennedy, Murray, Reid, Daschle..
    Re: GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposa (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 19, 2006 at 04:36:05 PM EST
    Yeah, Jim, I looked at the link. You obviously intended thta people assume that "Kennedy" referred to Ted Kennedy. If not why didn't you say that the Kennedy in the article was Patrick Kennedy? And antoher thing you didn't mention. 14 of the 20 (that's 70%, significaqntly more than the margin needed to elect your King) named individuals are Republicans. Seven of the top 8 are Republican. Of the money given to the top 20,81% went to Republicans. 58% of the money that went to Republicans went to Patrick Kennedy. Seems like pretty much - 81% at least - a Republican thing

    GOP Pitches "New" Congressional Ethics Proposal | 13 comments (13 topical)