| More has been accomplished on ethics reform in Washington than Albany this year, thanks in large part to activist freshmen members.
The excellent "Bill Moyers Journal," thankfully back on PBS, had a segment on Congressional ethics Friday that featured three freshmen who may not be in the House today, but for the disgraceful ethical lapses/crimes of the DeLay Republican Congress -- our own Kirsten Gilliband, Paul Hodes (NH-2), and Zack Space (OH-18).
Gillibrand made ethics a key issue in her successful campaign against John Sweeney, who had taken a junket to the Marianas at the behest of Jack Abramoff and DeLay, and compared the sweatshops there favorably to sweatshops in this country.
Hodes noted that the incumbent he beat, Charlie Bass, refused to return $15,000 in tainted contributions from DeLay and Bob Ney, an Abramoff bribee now in prison.
And Space won the seat vacated in August by Ney, by a 62-38 margin that was the largest of any Democrat in a Republican-held seat nationwide in 2006.
Moyers not only gave these freshmen some national face time, he also credited "freshmen reformers" for steeling the rest of the Democrats in Congress to pass meaningful ethics reform.
Details below. |
| According to the transcript, Moyers said:
But change hasn't come easy — not all Democrats are cooperating. In the House, freshmen reformers and leaders like Nancy Pelosi have met resistance from rank-and-file in their own party.
Even a close Pelosi ally, Representative John Murtha from Pennsylvania, derided the ethics bill as "total crap."
Gillibrand asks a pertinent question:
We have the greatest democracy in the world. But, when we have members of Congress who break the public's trust and when we have large industry groups writing legislation, it begins to make people wonder, "Are people being represented by the representatives or are they only representing special interests?"
Here's what Hodes had to say:
We're here today to tell the American people that as far as we're concerned, those past days are over. We're gonna run this show differently. We know and the American people know that sunshine is the best disinfectant.
And Space called for greater House policing of its own:
I don't know what drove a guy like Bob Ney to do what he did. Whether it was greed or the wrong kind of friends -- just really bad judgment -- but I think part of it was he thought he could get away with it. And the hope here is that we create a mechanism whereby there is no question in every member's mind that if you engage in that kind of conduct, you're going to be called on it.
Moyers also featured Speaker Pelosi, two excellent senators, Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Byron Dorgan from North Dakota, and veteran reform campaigner Joan Claybrook.
The Washington Post also gave "freshmen reformers" some props in its story about the recent passage of an ethics bill, right in the lede:
Prodded by Democratic leaders and by freshmen elected partly on promises to clean up Washington, the House approved new ethics legislation yesterday that would penalize lawmakers who receive a wide range of favors from special interests, and would require lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they collect and deliver to lawmakers.
snip
The new proposals, which in the end passed overwhelmingly, would expand the information available about how business is done on Capitol Hill and make it available online. They would provide expanded, more frequent and Internet-accessible reporting of lobbyist-paid contributions and sponsorships, and would for the first time impose prison terms for criminal rule-breakers. They would also require strict new disclosure of "bundled" campaign contributions that lobbyists collect and pass on to lawmakers' campaigns.
Space gets the first quote:
It is absolutely imperative that we break this circle of deceit that exists, that has existed, between lobbyists, their wealthy clients and this Legislature.
And the story notes that the House also passed Abramoff-inspired ethics rules for its members back in January:
The House in January passed rules banning gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists. The rules also require sponsors of pet spending projects, known as earmarks, to identify themselves and certify that they have no financial interest in them.
The ethics bill is not perfect; few bills are. But it, along with the new House rules, is a sign that the House freshman class, including the excellent Kirsten Gillibrand, is having some of the positive impact that we who worked for them had hoped for. |
