Corrupted GOP needs to lose the House, for now
Here's the text of Pete's special commentary for the Sacramento Bee:
As a lifelong Republican, I have found it difficult to conclude that the nation will benefit by transferring control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats in November. However, I see no other way to put the country back on a reasonable course.
I regret that we Republicans have lost, as Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said recently, the moral right to lead.
Like those in any party too long in power, the Republican House leaders have been corrupted by that power and the money it attracts. When I served in Congress more than 20 years ago, the Democrats had been in control too long and were similarly corrupted. I saw a large number of Democratic members indicted, including several chairmen of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee on which I served for 14 years.
Twelve years ago, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was able to return the Republicans to power under his "Contract With America," promising to restore high ethics standards. It was high time.
In a single decade, however, the Republican leadership has created a "Congressional/Lobbying Complex" that might be as dangerous as the "Military/Industrial Complex" President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961.
Money from rich, powerful corporations and their lobbyists has become the No. 1 Republican priority. Too often votes and/or earmarks have followed the money, with horrendous budget deficits and bad legislation the result.
The latest chapter in corruption came to light in 2004, when Majority Leader Tom DeLay was admonished three times for abuse of power by the bipartisan House ethics committee. Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, with the concurrence of the House leadership that includes Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, responded swiftly. The speaker removed Joel Hefley, the Republican chair of the ethics committee, and two other Republican members, replacing them with DeLay loyalists. The ethics rules were changed so that neither DeLay nor anyone else could be investigated without bipartisan consent. (The rule had been that deadlock along party lines triggered an automatic committee investigation.) The ethics committee was effectively emasculated and has remained so.
Even after former California Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham went to jail for accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors, the House leadership refused to establish an independent ethics monitoring agency.
Then there is the Jack Abramoff scandal, described as perhaps the worst scandal in congressional history. It centers on Abramoff's two primary clients, Indian tribes desiring to gain or protect lucrative casino gambling operations, and the government and clothing manufacturers of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory of islands west of Hawaii.
Both Doolittle and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, have been involved in Abramoff's efforts for his clients. Starting in the mid-1990s, Abramoff funded lavish trips to the Marianas for congressmen and their staffs. He focused efforts on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Marianas and which Pombo began chairing in 2003. (DeLay helped Pombo jump over senior members to assume the chairmanship.)
Both DeLay and Doolittle have praised the great free enterprise success in the Mariana Islands, although disclosures as early as 1998 pointed to working conditions that pushed female workers into prostitution and forced abortions. As chairman of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has refused requests by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and others to investigate Abramoff's lobbying activities for the Marianas.
Abramoff and two former congressional staff members who went to work for him have pleaded guilty to attempted bribery of members of Congress. Last summer, a former staff assistant to Doolittle, Kevin Ring, claimed his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on tribal lobbying rather than answer questions about his relationship to Abramoff.
Pombo and Doolittle rank as two of the highest recipients of money from Abramoff and his associates among California's members of Congress, with more than $40,000 each. Pombo has contributed thousands of dollars to the indicted DeLay's legal defense fund. Both Pombo and Doolittle have enriched their wives with thousands of dollars from campaign funds. Both have intervened to protect Charles Hurwitz, known in California for his company's clear-cutting of old-growth redwoods, from a federal inquiry into the collapse of a savings and loan.
As Shays commented, Republicans have lost the moral authority to lead the House. Such men should not be left in power in Congress.
There is another reason to set aside party loyalty this year. Since 2001, the House has abdicated its constitutional power and duty to exercise legislative oversight over the executive branch. Congress should not tacitly accept, without specific response, presidential signing statements that oppose the clear language of statutes.
The country works best when Congress acts as the independent branch of government specifically defined in the Constitution.
For these reasons, I reluctantly conclude that the Democrats should be returned to power, at least temporarily. Democrats should be challenged to clean up the ethical mess that has brought the House to such low esteem in the public view. They should restore the legislative oversight process. If they fail to do these things, we should turn them out as well.
As a lifelong Republican, I have found it difficult to conclude that the nation will benefit by transferring control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats in November. However, I see no other way to put the country back on a reasonable course.
I regret that we Republicans have lost, as Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said recently, the moral right to lead.
Like those in any party too long in power, the Republican House leaders have been corrupted by that power and the money it attracts. When I served in Congress more than 20 years ago, the Democrats had been in control too long and were similarly corrupted. I saw a large number of Democratic members indicted, including several chairmen of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee on which I served for 14 years.
Twelve years ago, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was able to return the Republicans to power under his "Contract With America," promising to restore high ethics standards. It was high time.
In a single decade, however, the Republican leadership has created a "Congressional/Lobbying Complex" that might be as dangerous as the "Military/Industrial Complex" President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961.
Money from rich, powerful corporations and their lobbyists has become the No. 1 Republican priority. Too often votes and/or earmarks have followed the money, with horrendous budget deficits and bad legislation the result.
The latest chapter in corruption came to light in 2004, when Majority Leader Tom DeLay was admonished three times for abuse of power by the bipartisan House ethics committee. Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, with the concurrence of the House leadership that includes Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, responded swiftly. The speaker removed Joel Hefley, the Republican chair of the ethics committee, and two other Republican members, replacing them with DeLay loyalists. The ethics rules were changed so that neither DeLay nor anyone else could be investigated without bipartisan consent. (The rule had been that deadlock along party lines triggered an automatic committee investigation.) The ethics committee was effectively emasculated and has remained so.
Even after former California Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham went to jail for accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors, the House leadership refused to establish an independent ethics monitoring agency.
Then there is the Jack Abramoff scandal, described as perhaps the worst scandal in congressional history. It centers on Abramoff's two primary clients, Indian tribes desiring to gain or protect lucrative casino gambling operations, and the government and clothing manufacturers of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory of islands west of Hawaii.
Both Doolittle and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, have been involved in Abramoff's efforts for his clients. Starting in the mid-1990s, Abramoff funded lavish trips to the Marianas for congressmen and their staffs. He focused efforts on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Marianas and which Pombo began chairing in 2003. (DeLay helped Pombo jump over senior members to assume the chairmanship.)
Both DeLay and Doolittle have praised the great free enterprise success in the Mariana Islands, although disclosures as early as 1998 pointed to working conditions that pushed female workers into prostitution and forced abortions. As chairman of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has refused requests by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and others to investigate Abramoff's lobbying activities for the Marianas.
Abramoff and two former congressional staff members who went to work for him have pleaded guilty to attempted bribery of members of Congress. Last summer, a former staff assistant to Doolittle, Kevin Ring, claimed his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on tribal lobbying rather than answer questions about his relationship to Abramoff.
Pombo and Doolittle rank as two of the highest recipients of money from Abramoff and his associates among California's members of Congress, with more than $40,000 each. Pombo has contributed thousands of dollars to the indicted DeLay's legal defense fund. Both Pombo and Doolittle have enriched their wives with thousands of dollars from campaign funds. Both have intervened to protect Charles Hurwitz, known in California for his company's clear-cutting of old-growth redwoods, from a federal inquiry into the collapse of a savings and loan.
As Shays commented, Republicans have lost the moral authority to lead the House. Such men should not be left in power in Congress.
There is another reason to set aside party loyalty this year. Since 2001, the House has abdicated its constitutional power and duty to exercise legislative oversight over the executive branch. Congress should not tacitly accept, without specific response, presidential signing statements that oppose the clear language of statutes.
The country works best when Congress acts as the independent branch of government specifically defined in the Constitution.
For these reasons, I reluctantly conclude that the Democrats should be returned to power, at least temporarily. Democrats should be challenged to clean up the ethical mess that has brought the House to such low esteem in the public view. They should restore the legislative oversight process. If they fail to do these things, we should turn them out as well.
posted by PF at 8:43 AM
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