Diane Feinstein opposes public financing and free broadcast time for elections.
Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, is preparing a proposal for some form of public financing or free broadcast time for Congressional candidates to reduce their dependence on campaign donors. Common Cause says that 21 newly elected Democrats, more than half the class, and 68 incumbents have signed a pledge endorsing the idea.
That idea, however, has never gained much traction in Congress, in part because lawmakers balk at the idea of supporting challengers who want their jobs. “You use taxpayer dollars to finance people who may not only be fringe candidates but — I was going to use the term ‘nut’— may be mentally incompetent,” Ms. Feinstein said.
Diane Feinstein opposes an independent commission to enforce Congressional ethics rules.
Sweeping changes, however, may be a tough sell within the party. Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was embarrassed by disclosures last week that he had dismissed the leadership proposals with a vulgarity at a private meeting. But Mr. Murtha is hardly the only Democrat who objects to broad changes. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of the rules committee, for example, said she was opposed an independent Congressional ethics watchdog. “If the law is clear and precise, members will follow it,” she said in an interview. “As to whether we need to create a new federal bureaucracy to enforce the rules, I would hope not.”
Congratulations California Democrats!! You just gave this loser another six-year term in Congress and she just took over the Senate Rules Committee. Isn’t that great? Isn’t that just fantastic?
Feinstein is beginning to challenge Lieberman as the worst Democratic Senator. She’s absolutely dreadful. Awful. I’m tempted to use even stronger language. Send her a note and let her know how you feel about her attitude towards election reform and stronger ethical oversight.
