posted on May 5, 2005 09:01:29 AM new
Pelosi ethical double standard dilemma
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14 Lawmakers Now Under Scrutiny In Travel Scandal
Thu May 05 200 510:47:10 ET
The scandal over Congressional travel continues to grow, with at least 14 Members, as well as numerous Capitol Hill staffers, are now under scrutiny because of the sources of funding for domestic and overseas trips they took.
ROLL CALL reports: Although House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is by far the most high-profile lawmaker caught up in the scandal so far, to this point, more Democrats than Republicans have found themselves the subject of news reports outlining potential violations of House ethics rules for taking trips funded by registered lobbyists or lobbying firms.
The number is sure to rise as researchers for both parties, as well as reporters and political activists, continue to dig through tens of thousands of pages of travel documents on file with Congress.
Democrats were privately taken aback that two of their more prominent members, Reps. James Clyburn and Bennie Thompson, had become embroiled in the political furor surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Democratic sources said they expect Clyburn and Thompson to face an ethics inquiry given all attention surrounding DeLay and his overseas trips.
But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Democrats cannot be considered in the same category as Republicans when it comes to ethics problems. Rep. Pelosi said, "It is not an issue of members of our Caucus having the same sort of a problem. Make no mistake - there is a drastic difference between the timing of reporting things and ethical behavior."
A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
posted on May 5, 2005 11:34:21 AM new
I see the liberals passed this one by so I will bump it back up.
They just can't understand how their party can do that as they are so pristine. Well get over it liberals when money is involved greed steps in. What is good for one is good for the other. No matter how many times congressmen accept favors that they are not supposed to take isn't the problem. One trip is as bad as 10 trips. Both are bribes and both are guilty.
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[ edited by Libra63 on May 5, 2005 11:35 AM ]
[ edited by Libra63 on May 5, 2005 03:00 PM ]
posted on May 5, 2005 12:46:03 PM new
No difference between 1 trip and 10, eh Libra? In your mind, someone who took 1 trip might have just as well gone ahead and become as scummy as DeLay. Yeah, that makes sense...
This is all much ado about nothing. What's important about DeLay isn't the trips he took, it's that he's a hypocrite.
I'm too busy right now to dick around with quotation tags, but here's an clip of an interesting article from the CATO institute, not exactly what even YOU would call a Liberal webpage.
...Current ethics rules sufficiently govern legislators' behavior and enable individual transgressions to come to light. Lawmakers aren't exactly given carte blanche. The rules detailed in the 71-page "Gifts and Travel" handbook forbid legislators from accepting trips paid for by lobbyists or foreign government agents. Subsidized trips are limited to a week in length, and legislators must submit disclosure forms detailing benefits received.
Private sponsors' motives are no worse than those of their public counterparts. Private interests seek to educate congressional guests while propagating a particular point of view. However, when Pentagon bureaucrats, for example, send legislators to view new weaponry or visit bases and combat theaters, they, too, exercise a propaganda function. They seek to protect their budgets and to make their department or agency a more sympathetic recipient of public funds.
Government-funded fact-finding is neither ethically purer nor more selfless than privately sponsored travel.
The assumption that the relationship between lawmakers and private sponsors is inherently corrupt (subsidized travel leads to legislative or regulatory favoritism) exists without supporting evidence. A link between a lawmaker's travel and legislative behavior is rarely established. If these trips "buy" anything, it's access to politicians, not influence on policymaking. The importance of such access, however, is overestimated.
Research finds that private money follows votes far more often than votes follow money. Legislators' voting records reflect their ideology, partisanship and assessment of their constituents' interests....
posted on May 5, 2005 08:51:09 PM newHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Democrats cannot be considered in the same category as Republicans when it comes to ethics problems. Rep. Pelosi said.....
LOL...of course not....everybody knows when they do the same thing....it's okay....but when they try and pin their identical actions on the republicans....THEY don't think they should also be called to task. Too bad....they are being shown for just what they are.....hypocrites. And as I said before....I think ALL these being looked into is a good thing. Might just keep these laws/rules CLEAR in their minds for a while.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on May 6, 2005 12:17:34 AM new
Clear in whose mind ? It does get so confusing when rules are changed to protect the guilty by the guilty.
""Knowing that he faced investigation for a growing pile of scandals, Tom DeLay and the GOP House leadership purged the Ethics Committee of Republicans -- including Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) --
who weren't willing to overlook charges against DeLay, replacing them with members loyal to the leadership.
They then changed the Committee rules to make it more difficult to begin investigations. Democrats on the Committee have refused to take any action in protest until the rules are restored."""
Democrats aren't "obstructing" anything...they are presenting the OTHER point of view....(sorry to dissappoint you, linduh, it's not quite a dictatorship yet
posted on May 6, 2005 02:59:59 AM new
I find it laughable that the lefties think only one side should be brought up to account for the same actions. Don't really believe MOST fair/sensable voters are going to understand why it's okay for the dems to do it, but not the republicans. That silly thought process won't 'compute' with fair-minded voters.
5-4-05
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
House Republicans called Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a hypocrite yesterday for not demanding investigations into new ethics questions that have arisen about the travel of her fellow Democrats.
"She demanded an investigation into [Majority Leader] Tom DeLay, but hasn't said a word about these Democrats who have done the same thing," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican. "If she doesn't call for investigations into her fellow Democrats, then it's clear she's being a hypocrite."
Republicans are wondering why the California representative won't ask for investigations into Democratic Reps. Norm Dicks of Washington, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, all of whom face questions about accepting travel paid for by lobbyists.
"As we expressed in earlier letters, Madame Leader, it appears more and more that your repeated calls for an investigation of Mr. DeLay are more driven by politics than by any real concern for the House rules," Mr. McHenry, with two other Republicans, wrote in a letter to Mrs. Pelosi yesterday.
Despite urging from Republicans, Mrs. Pelosi refused to call for any investigations of her Democratic colleagues.
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LOL that the voters will buy that double standard - by the oh-so-progressive ms. pelosi.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on May 6, 2005 11:56:55 AM new
4-06-2005 This morning, the Washington Post and the New York Times each broke new scandals involving Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay. According to the Times, DeLay paid his wife and daughter more than $500,000 of his political donors' money over the last four years. And the Post article highlights a seedy 1997 trip DeLay took, underwritten by "a mysterious company located in the Bahamas" that was tied to Russian business interests.
And that's not the only legal or ethical scandal DeLay is involved in. DeLay illegally used corporate funds in support of his plan to re-district Texas, and he went on golf trips with gambling lobbyist Jack Abramoff—two months before DeLay helped kill legislation opposed by the gambling companies.
DeLay's grandstanding on the Terri Schiavo tragedy—which a great majority of the country feels is political opportunism—was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now, some Republicans in Congress are speaking out against DeLay, but most are still too scared of his powerful network of corporate donors. We need to show all of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, that if they stand up to Tom DeLay we've got their back.
We think it is time to fire Tom DeLay as House Majority Leader. Please sign the petition below urging Congress to remove DeLay from his leader post at the link below.
As the chorus of opposition grows louder, it is important to show that this isn't just a power struggle in Washington but that, in fact, millions of Americans share the same concerns about DeLay's pattern of repeated corruption.
Even the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, one of the most conservative groups of editors in the country, is offended by the excesses of Tom DeLay. They wrote on March 28, "Mr. DeLay, who rode to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at the everyday ways of big government, has become the living exemplar of some of its worst habits."
Among his offenses, Tom Delay:
Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor
Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare
Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law
Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas
Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention
Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans
Stacked the House Ethics committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund
Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed
Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules
Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him
Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel
Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"
Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions
(See postscript below for a link to citations.)
As Majority Leader, DeLay is the second-ranking leader in the House of Representatives. He is responsible for developing the Republican issue agenda and sets the legislative schedule by selecting which bills the House will consider.
The ranks of government contractors and lobbyists who depend on this legislative authority have slathered DeLay, his cronies and related organizations with millions of dollars.
posted on May 6, 2005 12:57:13 PM new
I don't think it is a matter of high profile it is a matter that others are doing it also.
Both Democrats and Republicans.
Have you looked into the education that Delay's wife and daughter have? It is probably cheaper to hire them than ones out in the job market.
posted on May 6, 2005 04:19:21 PM newWhat's important about DeLay isn't the trips he took, it's that he's a hypocrite.
So what written law has Delay broken?????
CRAW, Once again your democRATic double standard comes into play, A democRAT can hire family members by a Republican cant?
Apparently the remander of the democRATs are becoming a paranoid of Delay as you are of 12Pole.
“Get Tom DeLay!”
A Times crusade.
For the old-fashioned, the definition of a "news story" is a story that is new — hence the name. But the newspeople at the newspapers the Washington Post and the New York Times have an updated definition — anything that hurts Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay on any given day.
The Times just ran a front-page article reporting that DeLay's wife and daughter receive payments from his political operations. This story might have been news if it hadn't been known for years and been the subject of a detailed report in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call on May 5, 2003 — meaning the Times did a follow-up 702 days later. And this story might have been scandalous if it weren't for the fact that having family members on the pay-roll is a common, bipartisan practice, accepted as legitimate so long as they actually do work (DeLay's daughter runs his congressional campaigns). This story can only be explained if some editor at the Times is not barking at reporters, "Get news on Tom DeLay!" but instead simply, "Get Tom DeLay!"
The same day as the Times front-pager, the Washington Post ran its own front-page article on a trip DeLay took to Russia that was ostensibly funded by a Washington think tank, but that really might have been funded by a Washington lobbyist, in violation of House rules. This might have been news if that trip hadn't taken place in 1997 and been reported in the National Journal on Feb. 25, 2005 — meaning the Post did a relatively brisk follow-up after 39 days. Most subjects of Washington scandals are undone by the steady accumulation of new allegations. DeLay might be the first brought down by the drip-drip of old allegations.
What is happening to DeLay is a ritual with all the carefully scripted but irrational rules of an Aztec sacrifice ceremony. First, the target is deemed "dogged by ethics questions." Then, every scrap of negative information is splashed on the front pages, until out of exhaustion the target's supporters abandon him. Finally, six months after the target's demise, everyone scratches their head and wonders, "What was that all about?"
There is no doubt that DeLay has gotten too comfortable with the perks of power and had a cringe-making relationship with a sleazy Washington lobbyist named Jack Abramoff. Given the ways of Washington, these shouldn't be firing offenses, especially when the outrage over them is driven less by good-government zeal than frank partisanship. House Democratic campaign head Rep. Rahm Emanuel has been open about making ethics charges a linchpin of the Democratic political strategy.
The independent ethics groups that have been decrying DeLay's practices, such as Democracy 21 and Common Cause, are allies in this partisan push. Their contributors are hyper-Democrats like George Soros, and their staffers are often former Democratic politicos. They identify ethical government with Democratic government, and get the cooperation of the press, which would have no use for DeLay even if he were the reincarnation of Mr. Smith. This is why House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi can secure a federal grant for a nonprofit that contributes to her political action committee, as The Washington Times recently reported, and the story barely causes a ripple, let alone gets recycled every 39 days.
The Democratic assault on DeLay is modeled on Newt Gingrich's ethics drive against the Democratic leadership when Republicans were out of power in the early 1990s. That tack proved successful, but because it was combined with a serious intellectual and policy push. That is what's missing from the current Democratic campaign, which is all about DeLay, pure and simple. In fact, the Democrats have taken to charging that the House is being distracted from its policy work because of the DeLay controversy of their making. This amounts to saying: "Stop us before we attack Tom DeLay again!"
Of course, the substantive bankruptcy of the congressional Democratic minority is not news — however you define the term.:
A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
Too bad....they are being shown for just what they are.....hypocrites. And as I said before....I think ALL these being looked into is a good thing. Might just keep these laws/rules CLEAR in their minds for a while.