I mentioned earlier the disgraceful Washington Post spin-o-rama article that tried to blame the failure of a cloture vote on the Senate ethics bill on Republicans. Jonathan Weisman tried his level best to spin the entire thing based on the Gregg amendment that would have allowed certain pork barrel earmarks to be stripped out of an unrelated bill by the President. The earmarks would then be sent back to Congress for a straight up or down, on the record vote. Robert "Show Me The Porky" Byrd and and Harry "We Need Real Reform Only if it Includes Earmarks" Reid are trying mightily to kill that amendment. Then trying with the WaPo's assistance, to paint it as Republican obstruction of ethics reform. Weisman called the amendment "an unrelated measure."
Funny thing. Robert Reich strongly – in fact, vehemently – disagrees that earmark reform is unrelated to ethics reform.
Democrats are eager to show they're serious about reforming the way Congress does business. So they're pushing a new ethics and lobbying bill that will ban gifts, meals, and free trips from lobbyists and their clients, and require that the legislative sponsors of all earmarks for pet projects be identified in the legislation.
But calling these reforms is like saying you've cleaned the house when all you've done is taken out the garbage.
The real scandal in Washington is the everyday bribery that remains legal. I'm talking about campaign contributions given for legislative favors — a particular provision in this or that bill, an amendment here, an earmarked appropriation there. Lobbyists orchestrate this contemptible process. And members of Congress keep it going because the money buys television time for their re-election campaigns, and television advertising keeps them in power.
The system is out of control. It cost the average candidate three times more to run for Congress in 2006 than it did in 1990, adjusting for inflation. Members now devote most of their time to fund raising instead of representing their constituents.
The solution: ban the damn earmarks. Outright. The Gregg amendment is at least a step in that direction and would make porkers like Robert Byrd have to stand up and vote on the record rather than slipping it in behind the voter's backs. Everyone should be able to get behind this. This is not partisan. Kill the pork. Now.
