No Housecleaning
Ruskin, Gary
No Housecleaning By Gary Ruskin Illustration by Anita Kunz Let me introduce myself. Since 1993, I've run the Congressional Accountability Project, which opposes corruption in Congress. It hasn't...
...New rules are meaningless without enforcement...
...Then, in September 1997, they passed "reforms" (I called them the Corrupt Politicians' Protection Act) that made it impossible for citizens to file ethics complaints in the House...
...Democrats didn't want to fix such corruption when they were in charge...
...Members of Congress and their staff should be prohibited from accepting for private benefit any gifts from lobbyists or the general public...
...Or even come close...
...Neither Republicans nor Democrats could tolerate it any longer...
...So, for nearly ten years, both parties have conspired to make an ethics "truce" and have rarely filed complaints against each other...
...The good news is there are earnest reformers in Congress, like Senator John McCain, Senator Russ Fein-gold, Representative Chris Shays, and Representative Martin Meehan...
...On January 17, Speaker Dennis Hastert and Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, Republican of California, stepped to the podium to explain the House GOP's new ethics proposals...
...And I was the last non-House member to file one against a House member...
...And when they're scared, anything is possible...
...Sounds great...
...Hastert is an imperfect spokesman on ethics, given his narrow escape in a bribery scandal regarding an alleged $100,000 offer to former Representative Nick Smith on the House floor in exchange for his vote on the Medicare drug bill...
...If money can't buy legislative action, then corporations won't get what they want...
...Democrats haven't changed much since then...
...Maybe someone would go to jail...
...But even that was too tough for the Free Lunch Caucus...
...As for the Senate, on March 29 it passed an anemic bill that would force lobbyists to disclose more about their activities and would double the "cooling-off" period for members of Congress who become lobbyists...
...Now that Boehner is majority leader, real reform is looking less likely...
...Translation: We love business as usual...
...Before becoming House majority leader, John Boehner called the proposed ban on privately sponsored travel "childish...
...And, yes, it's as pathetic as it sounds...
...Ethics complaints are important, because they trigger at least a preliminary investigation into possible corruption by members of Congress...
...If they ban former members, who's going to pass the ball...
...Three reasons...
...Pass Public Campaign Financing...
...Overhaul the Congressional Ethics Process...
...Here's why: Although both Republicans and Democrats are happy to hurl accusations at one another, neither has any real interest in reducing corruption in Congress...
...In Washington, Republicans are the party of the corporations and their trade associations...
...The key ones are: Ban Gifts...
...Majority Leader Boehner replies: "When I hear Democratic Party leaders throwing around terms like culture of corruption,' I have to think: 'You oughta know' " And Boehner is right...
...Why does Pelosi act as the Republicans' angel of mercy...
...it kept his party in power, and in perks...
...After thirteen years, I can't honestly claim any victories...
...They deserve our respect...
...There might even be an indictment or two...
...Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts, explains that it's "like putting a band-aid on a broken leg...
...It would double the one-year lobbying cooling-off period, strengthen lobbying disclosure and the enforcement of it, prohibit travel paid by lobbyists, and bar some gifts from lobbyists (but still allow those given in the context of political fundraising...
...Congress should strengthen federal anti-bribery and gratuity laws to prohibit special interests from using gifts to curry favor with public officials...
...Gary Ruskin is director of the Congressional Accountability Project...
...Even now, in the middle of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which may be the worst political scandal since Watergate, both parties are hoping that nobody notices when they pass sham reform and call it a triumph...
...Yes, you read that right...
...The House and Senate ethics committees have been hesitant to investigate powerful members of Congress and to punish wrongdoing...
...The "reforms" created a climate in Congress where corruption is increasingly possible-exactly what both parties wanted...
...In September 1996, I filed complaints against two very powerful Republicans: Tom DeLay (then House majority whip) and Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania (then chairman of the House Transportation Committee...
...But it's intolerable to both parties...
...Sure, some powerful members of Congress were embarrassed by front-page scandal stories...
...In 1999, the Supreme Court knocked a major loophole in the federal illegal gratuities law, making it harder to prosecute politicians who take gifts from favor-seekers like Jack Abramoff...
...In recent weeks, the Democrats have adopted a new mantra: denouncing the Republican "culture of corruption...
...When voters get really angry, members of Congress get really scared...
...Strengthen the Anti-Bribery and Gratuity Statutes...
...In early January, we at Commercial Alert proposed the Honest Government Agenda, a set of fifteen reforms...
...Prohibit the Purchase of Influence...
...I've probably filed more of them than anyone...
...Senator Trent Lott (who chairs the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, which has jurisdiction over many of the reforms) called some of the reforms "outrageous...
...If you're keeping score, so far this year here's the only ethics reform the House has enacted: It has banned former members who are lobbyists from the House floor and the House gym...
...But they don't...
...Amazingly, when the Democrats announced their ethics plan, it was almost as tame as the Republicans...
...At that time, Speaker Tom Foley shut down all reform-and made Gingrich's revolution possible...
...So, Hastert and Dreier played it safe, calling for a ban on privately paid Congressional travel, stricter gift rules, doubling the current one-year period during which former members and staff can't lobby their former colleagues, and requiring former members to forfeit their pensions if convicted of a felony related to their Congressional duties...
...The GOP response to the Abramoff scandal started badly, and it's been downhill ever since...
...And it nearly put the Congressional Accountability Project out of business because we couldn't file complaints in the House anymore...
...Congress passed no major anti-corruption reforms...
...Where you going to-to McDonald's...
...He added: "I mean, now we're going to say you can't have a meal for more than $20...
...In other words, Pelosi protects Republicans from investigations of corruption, influence-peddling, and abuse of power...
...He is more talented, tenacious, resourceful, and determined than most people know...
...Congress should invigorate the House and Senate ethics committees by ensuring that outside counsel will investigate ethics complaints against members of Congress, restoring citizens' ability to file ethics complaints in the House, and making the ethics process more transparent...
...But it didn't do much good...
...Second, because I don't think McCain is going to accept defeat...
...First, because the Abramoff scandal is just too big to be swept under the rug...
...I vividly remember seeking campaign finance, lobbying, and gift reform in 1993-94, when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House...
...It hasn't been easy...
...The likely result of such an "ethics war": Corruption would be exposed, members from both parties would be embarrassed, and a few might lose their seats in Congress...
...If Democrats filed ethics complaints, Republicans would, too...
...The only effect, says lobbyist Tom Downey, will be boring basketball games...
...Mission accomplished: a House of Representatives safe for the likes of Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff Sometimes we reformers joke that Congress isn't really for sale, because the current owners are quite pleased with it...
...Anti-corruption reforms threaten corporations because they reduce the influence of money in politics...
...Here's a dirty secret: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi basically prohibits her Democrats from filing ethics complaints against Republicans-even powerful ones...
...They have the power to file ethics complaints to trigger investigations of Republican corruption...
...They're doing their best...
...That pretty well sums up the problem...
...I'll bet you understand...
...Right now, the smart money is betting that none of these reforms will pass...
...The House, by agreement of both Republicans and Democrats, for nine months instituted an "ethics moratorium" during which ethics complaints and investigations were prohibited...
...This is the most effective reform, therefore it's also the most unlikely...
...Foley was comfortable with the corruption...
...Broadcasters should be required to provide free or reduced cost TV and radio ads for candidates for federal office...
...It's likely, though, that the Senate will have to revisit ethics reform later in the year, as the Abramoff scandal mounts, and elections approach...
...You need a lot of money to displace a corrupt member of Congress, and many challengers can't raise it...
...Because of the complaints, too many powerful members of Congress looked bad in their local newspapers...
...While the bill was titled the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act, it should really be known as the Big Wet Kiss for Lobbyists Act...
...You can probably guess what happened...
...On national TV, in a spasm of denial, Boehner said that "taking actions to ban this and ban that, when there's no appearance of a problem, there's no foundation of a problem, I think, in fact, does not serve the institution well...
...Not surprisingly, their proposal was soft on corruption...
...Nothing in that package will win them a profile in courage...
...He is executive director of Commercial Alert...
...Third, and most important, I don't think that the American people will tolerate the drumbeat of Abramoff news stories without real anti-corruption reforms...
...So, what's the solution...
...Lobbying reforms also cut into those lovely perks that members of Congress crave...
...I do believe that in the end, these public servants are going to deliver us a big victory...
...The House and Senate should pass ethics rules to prohibit members of Congress from providing influence or official action in exchange for campaign contributions or other consideration...
Vol. 70 • May 2006 • No. 5
