Here's a brief excerpt from a CQ article on the current effort to establish an ethics commission for the House:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved from chairmen to freshmen, working the House floor as vigorously as any member of her whip team. She was trying to persuade her fellow Democrats to hold their noses and vote to bring outsiders into the chamber's ethics review process. ... "It's the same lousy proposal as last week," said Boehner, R-Ohio.
I don't expect Members of Congress to be historians, but can't they recall what happened when they snubbed reform just a few years ago? Let's recap:
- In 1994, the Democrats lost a 40-year hold on the US House. A significant factor was a series of scandals, some small, some big, many a product of the odd mix of arrogance and moribund-ness that comes from being in power too long. The scandals kept coming: Speaker Wright, House post office, House bank, Rostenkowsi...and the Dems, along with the new President Clinton, dropped the ball on an opportunity to pass public financing of congressional campaigns.
- In 2006, the Republicans, taking only 12 years to become too-arrogant, lost the House. This time, scandal was key to their loss - Abramoff, Delay, Foley, Cunningham became synonymous with Congressional scandal. The Republicans, too, resisted reforms.
Now, most Republicans and a number of Democrats are resisting ethics oversight. The ethics commission is the right thing to do - and it's in their own interest.
When will they ever learn?
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