Last night, Congressional Democrats voted to protect one of their Members from being reprimanded for violating House ethics rules. The Hill reports that during the vote, “several Democratic lawmakers joked and laughed with Murtha as they sat in the so-called Pennsylvania corner of the House floor.” According to the Politico, they didn’t have any problem laughing off their ethics troubles:It's no secret that I was elected to several positions in student government back in college. One of the reasons why I resist the urge to get involved in "real" politics is that I get the distinct impression that my experience with universtiy politics wouldn't be all that different...like reliving elementary school all over again.“During the vote, Murtha sat in a darkened corner of the House floor, laughing with colleagues who surrounded him. As the clock wound down, other Democrats congratulated the senior member of the Appropriations Committee who oversees a massive defense spending bill every year.”Murtha, who has not denied the violating House rules, nevertheless voted FOR the motion to prevent his reprimand.
Two Democrats voted against their leaders because, as one explained, if a Republican “had been accused of threatening a Democrat on the House floor, I would expect” the matter to be debated or referred to the House Ethics Committee. According to Associated Press, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) blasted Democrats for violating their repeated promise to lead a more “honest” Congress:“‘It sends a message to the American people that our ethics rules are meaningless, and that it is OK for members of Congress to be threatened and intimidated when they try to crack down on wasteful spending.’”Democrats may not be laughing for long though, as they struggle to bring to the floor a lobbying reform package. According to Roll Call:“Facing significant internal strife, House Democratic leaders are mulling whether to postpone a Thursday vote on overhauling lobbying laws, despite promises of action by Memorial Day…Deep and wide resistance to the reform package from within the Democratic Caucus threatens to sink the rule governing debate on the measure.”Some outside groups are beginning to wonder aloud whether Democrats are “really serious about lobbying reform.”
This week, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) renewing his longstanding request for a bipartisan working group tasked with recommending fair, sensible and understandable House ethics rules. The letter states: “Rep. John Murtha was recently able to secure tens of millions of dollars for a questionable project in his district by highly suspect methods that either flaunted the new rules without penalty or at best nominally complied with them – proving in either case how utterly ineffective the new rules really are.”
House Republicans will continue to work to make the earmark process more transparent and more accountable, and will work to root out wasteful spending littered throughout the federal budget.
Politics is supposed to be about public service and getting things done, but I have found over the years that it has become less and less about that than it is about gaining and maintaining personal power. It is a dirty business...which is why I find no irony in the cliche that politics is the second oldest profession. Some days you can't tell a difference between politics and prostitution...
Democrats promised change. They campaigned on it. The American people bought the lies despite my telling you that the Democrats were not interested in change. Elections are supposed to have consequences...too bad the only consequences are paid by the American people. Who's laughing now?
