This sounds like good news, even if it means that Democrats once again lost control of some important confidential data.
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
In my opinion everyone on Capitol Hill is far too secure in their jobs. In the Army both scrutiny and punishment for a given offense partially depend on the defendant’s rank. The higher you are, the larger the book they throw at you (at least the system is meant to work that way). I would not suggest that we write a new set of penal codes for Congressional officials, but as it stands the system is structured almost the exact opposite of that populist ideal. These guys have the power, and their misbehavior impacts the nation harder than most quotidian crimes ever will, yet anything short of a Randy “Duke” Cunningham fire sale gets shrugged off as business as usual.
If it has to start with Charlie Rangel and Jack Murtha, fine. Off with their heads. Whatever it takes to put a little fear of the law in Congress’s untouchables is fine with me.
Zifnab25
Cheers to this
Mr Furious
Hear hear!
The ability of congress to fall back on some warped sense of “we police our own” is a crock. It would be a crock whether they took it seriously or not. Since, in practice, it amounts to a whitewash operation it’s even worse.
gonzone
I second that emotion.
geg6
I’m with ya, Tim. I’m with ya.
Chuck Butcher
Since money = free speech and the ordinary citizen does squat to contribute the lines get really blurred. Small contributions from most ordinary citizens would make the lobby machine to expensive to maintain, but they don’t buy it and don’t do it. So, we get the government we deserve.
The R’s can stuff most of their personal responsiblility rhetoric up their kazoos, but this is one of those situations where the label applies.
valdivia
OT but Andrew is at John once again and he once again does not get anything that John said yesterday.
liberal
But Congresscritters aren’t paid sh*t, when you consider how important they’re supposed to be.
Best solution would be to jack the pay way up, and make the ethics laws draconian.
Crusty Dem
Shorter Sully:
Clinton made me crazy so everything that happens now is Obama’s fault (And the HIV travel ban I’ve been railing about for the last decade has been lifted, so I guess that’s ok).
geg6
@valdivia:
I think he works extra hard to make sure he NEVER understands a criticism, especially valid ones.
valdivia
@geg6:
lol so true. I love how he focused on the word hissy fits and ignored everything else.
more on topic–can we get rid of Rangel and Murtha already?
Chuck Butcher
@valdivia:
So he triples down on stupidity and blames …. Clinton? I stand by my previous statement – he’s a dishonest twit.
Ranger 3
Officers get away with murder. Literally. If a General gets caught red handed doing something totally corrupt and his O Club buddies can’t cover it up… then he is “forced to retire”. Which is basically a paid vacation for life. Really tough.
My experience was the only way anyone with a rank of Colonel or higher was going to get the book thrown at them was if they committed treason or molested a child… or maybe if they tried to blow the whistle on their corrupt colleagues.
EvolutionaryDesign
We really do need to toss Rangel. He’s a huge liability at this point. But we also need to start dumping the bought and paid for (BAPF) confrence post-haste.
Chuck Butcher
@valdivia:
Probably not. Rangel may be in real trouble but for different reasons than legalized bribery.
GReynoldsCT00
@valdivia:
Jeebus, what part of John’s crystal clear post form last night could he not understand?
Ranger 3
@valdivia: OT but do you guys have to keep going OT. Do you guys have to talk about gay abortions every freaking day?
Demo Woman
@Ranger 3: Although I agree with you, I just read the post. Andrew did blame Clinton for his criticism of Obama. Sad really!
Now to the matter at hand. It’s nice to see the ethics committee do their job.
valdivia
@Ranger 3:
yes of course this is what we do!
@GReynoldsCT00:
well it is hard to replicate but he really seems so focused on his own rage at clinton that this is his excuse for raging at Obama all the time ignoring the nuance of what John said.
RememberNovember
I’d love to see any ethically challenged d-bag out on the highway in an orange vest. THAT”s community service!
Leeds man
I would not suggest that we write a new set of penal codes for Congressional officials
I would, but I would also suggest a preventive measure; require that candidates for political, military and corporate office take a standardized psychopathy test.
ET
I have been reading a book by Robert Remini that is a history of the House of Representatives (“The House”), and there were a number of elections where dozens of members lost in single elections.
Generally, I think the incumbancy advantage has gotten too strong. I don’t think constant turnover makes for a better Congress (as you can see from the book), but I do think it makes voters feel Congress is more in-tune and responsive. Being ignored or taken for granted, things no one likes, likely makes people less inclined to pay attention, which in turn makes it more likely they won’t vote and increasing the sense of disconnect.
WyldPiratd
Ranger [email protected]
You are so right about this. Same thing I saw during my 6 years as an officer in the Army. It played a big role in my getting out because I was disgusted with the shit I personally saw happen.
The worst were the fucking field grade officers in procurement. Shady motherf**kers mostly looking to pimp a sweet post retirement deal.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Burn them! Burn the witches!
He turned one into a Newt. He didn’t get better. (He keeps threatening to run for the presidency.)
Monty Python references aside. I totally agree with this post.
Makewi
One way to decrease both the personal power of a representative and the “buying power” of those who seek to influence them is to increase the number of reps. Applying the 30,000 clause to our current population we could increase the size of the house to 10,000 members. Imagine trying to get a whip count on a pool that large.
Ed in NJ
I look forward to weeks of msm coverage of the corruption in DC now that the Dems are in control.
That we are rooting out corruption regardless of party affiliation, which should support Obama’s promise to change DC, will never be mentioned.
Lex
Tell it to Lynndie Englund.
@liberal
Agreed. Amend the Constitution to make bribe-taking a sufficient element of the crime of treason, and then hang the guilty on the Capitol steps. I think that would concentrate the minds of the surviving congresscritters quite nicely, thank you.
Barry
John: “In the Army both scrutiny and punishment for a given offense partially depend on the defendant’s rank. The higher you are, the larger the book they throw at you (at least the system is meant to work that way). ”
Well, it’s clear that the military does not work that way,
and I’m not sure if it ever did. The closest it might have ever come to that is that the higher one’s rank, the more one’s screw-ups might embarrass even higher-ranking guys, whose vengeance is not sweet.
bago
OT:
“Most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches’I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.”
— Dr. Kimberly Daniels, in an essay posted on Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network
Glidwrith
Anyone notice that with the release of this ethics investigation, all of a sudden Mr. Evan Bayh (my wife is paid 2.5 million by Wellpoint) says he’s not going to try for a health care filibuster?
sleeping dog
Follow the money. The bastards are all on the take.
Gregory White
Pat Robertson vs. Larry Flynt debating about prostitution on radio show.
http://02e56fa.netsolhost.com/blog1/index.php/2009/10/30/pat-robertson-admits-using-a-prostitute-