From NZ Bear at The Truth Laid Bear:
We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.
We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.
But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.
As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.
Add me to the list of signatories.
Surely you don’t consider yourself ‘center-right’…
If I recall you are classified as an ‘enterpriser’- a class that goes 81% Republican and 1% Democrat.
But, in any case, kudos for taking a stand against corruption in Congress.
that was me
I have been to Congress with our Washington Lobbying rep and we carried in bags full of goodies of our product give-aways (worth less than $50) for the staffers who were like vultures waiting for the kill..I found it ridiculous to do that just to sweeten them up before presenting our issue but that was standard practice. Contrast that with meetings with FDA personnel where we NEVER so much as bought them a cup of coffee even though these federal employees also could accept gifts of a certain limit under the law. IMHO there should be NO gifting of any kind.
Yeah, it’s a shame that people abuse the system to the point where limits have to be unreasonable but the appearance (and reality?) of corruption is only going to dissipate when gifts are banned.
But gifts are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to corruption in Congress…
And I’m sure you agree, Preston, that corruption is not limited to the left or right. It’s human nature unfortunately, fueled by greed. It’s like the greed overtakes the sensibility. It’s ok to cheat on your taxes..everybody does kind of mentality. Hey, if I pay you cash, what will it cost then? Don’t tell me it’s limited to politicians cause I can show you dozens of ordinary people ranting and raving about the republican and democrat parties, who will take a cash deal to avoid taxes.
I have no answers..
Sure, corruption is a human failing. Jack Abramoff, however, is a Republican failing.
This scandal wasn’t an accident- it’s the culmination of the K-Street Project that was intended to clear Democrats from lobbyist positions in Washington. The tools of the project were carrots and sticks from the Republican Congress. Our tax dollars at work!
People will believe in any conspiracy theory…this is so ridiculous. We had a contract with a law firm in D.C. close to K Street that had 500 lawyers globally and they were known to be democrats and we were a corporation. The only politics we discussed were in a joking manner or when our lead attorney told us the stories of when he had worked for Al Gore’s campaign. We would kid back and forth about our differing politics but fact is, business was business and they did what they were paid to do and it was all legal. I could tell you stories about our left leaning opposition that would set your hair on fire…but the facts are that corruption is not limited to one party or the other..it’s whoever is more motivated by greed and power.
I think you’re wrong about a conspiracy ‘theory’:
From the horse’s mouth: http://www.kstreetproject.com/
The goal of the K Street Project was and is quite simple. We advise companies and trade associations to hire men and women who understand free-market economics, who support their principled positions for free trade, against tort law abuse, and for lower and more transparent taxation.
Hmm… In what form do you think that ‘advice’ comes?
If you prefer an outside source:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.confessore.html