Faced with a crises of confidence in their ability to establish an ethical climate in Washington that everyday citizens can look to with pride, and acting with the kind of boldness and raw courage that we have come to expect from the “Do Less Than Nothing Congress,” the august body yesterday passed the “Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act” which will accomplish …… Nothing.
It will make government no more accountable nor make the influence lizards of K Street more transparent. What could be more transparent then what is now going on and has been going on between elected crooks and corporate crooks since I first was able to read a newspaper? Is there anyone in this country unaware of the corruption of our Government? Our business community? Please don’t answer all at once.
Oh they created an appearance of a lot of sturm und drang, they made a pretense of debate, they appeared before the cameras and struck statesmanlike postures. They made sure that every blow dried hair was perfectly coifed and every toupee set at a rakish angle, the alligator shoes were gleaming and the power neckties perfectly knotted. The country expects this kind of tonsorial performance from it’s senior elected hacks. On this day they looked good enough for the daytime soaps.
They had held committee meetings and followed all the carefully constructed forms and rules and protocols for making sausages in Washington, they rose in debate and they read bullshit into the record, because bullshit was all they knew and their constituents have come to expect bullshit on the record from their leaders, and these boys can shovel it.
The margin was close, the measure passed 217 to 213 with 3 not voting, the vote predictably partisan with Republicans voting in favor of the shameful fraud and Democrats (with 8 mostly southern exceptions) voting against.
“Public Citizen” was wildly underwhelmed with this legislative dog from the outset:
Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook
“The so-called lobbying reform bill set for a vote tomorrow on the floor of the House is a fraud on the American public.
After months of working on reforming the way business is done on Capitol Hill, debating reform proposals that would prevent the corrupt practices of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others, the House of Representatives has finally settled on – ignoring the problems.
The legislation began as a woefully inadequate effort to address the public’s legitimate fears of corruption in government, and it has been whittled down even further by committee actions. To make it very clear that the House intends no sweeping reforms of influence-peddling, a gag rule has been attached to the bill that prohibits consideration of any amendments that could strengthen the legislation. In fact, the only amendments allowed for consideration will weaken the already weak bill even further.”
They did nothing, the 217 yeas did nothing because that was their design and intent as it was for the 213 nays, the 8 southern turncoat yeas were apparently trying to wrest some opportunistic advantage from doing nothing on the other side of nothing doing… or something. The only shred of honesty in this sad spectacle came from the 3 who simply stayed in bed and did nothing with a vengeance. In their shred of honesty we may take a tiny dollop of pride, they stayed in bed and struck a snore for the Republic.
Claybrook continues:
“Just to cast a picture of how this bill fails to deal with any of the recent scandals, let’s run through a quick check list of the abuses by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and what H.R. 4975 would do about them:”
See Table Bottom Of Page
This legislation was triggered by the Abramhoff affair, and as you have seen from the comparisons in the table:
Ms Claybrook concludes:
“H.R. 4975 does nothing to address the scandals of Abramoff. Worse yet, corruption by lobbyists and lawmakers does not begin or end with Abramoff; it is a systemic problem. There are many more Jack Abramoffs peddling their wares on the Hill.
Lobbyists for Westar Corp. and Freddie Mac, for example, have also made extensive use of fundraising to buy influence – or in the words of the Westar lobbyist, to buy a “seat at the table” – and they are only the tip of the iceberg. Even in the wake of all these lobbying and ethics scandals, the House ethics committee has not investigated these allegations or any of the other scandals associated with Jack Abramoff.
The House must reject H.R. 4975 and instead offer the American public genuine lobbying reform that will prevent similar scandals. The American public will not trust Congress until it responds to these corruption scandals in a sincere and effective way.”
But Congress didn’t reject this phony bill, they passed it. They passed it because the intent was to make a public display of doing something while in fact doing nothing. Congress is not upset with corruption in American politics, They revel in corruption like a dog rolling in a cat box. The smell of cash draws them irresistibly, like jackals to a rotting carcass.
Few in Congress want to slay this goose, go into the lobby of any Senate or House office building and watch the foot traffic. Pay close attention to the better dressed, the high dollar shoes and briefcases will give them away. These are the people who are scurrying around buying our government, and they are very well paid. There are thousands of them in Washington, ubiquitous, hard at work every hour of every working day in the service of their masters. They work weekends too, have low handicaps and good table manners.
Their visits to congressmen and Senators are more than welcome because they always come bearing gifts, gifts of travel and merchandise, of favors for friends and family, of cash and more cash. There are very few of our silver haired slick tongued “public servants” who will allow this enormous river of revenue to go dry. They will make public pronouncements in favor of reform and beat their breast while we’re watching but at the end of the day they will do what keeps them true to their masters and true to their name……. Nothing.
Bob Higgins
