Jim Hightower: Congress Ethics Rules Undermined by Weasels

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Hightower: Congress Ethics Rules Undermined by Weasels

By Jim Hightower, AlterNet. Posted December 17, 2009.

The Democratic majority in the House pushed through a widely ballyhooed set of reforms. Pelosi promised "the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history. How'd that work out?




Scientifically speaking, the weasel is in the mustelidae family, but it is not the only burrowing rodent of its genus. There's also the mustela congressa lobbyista, which is that mischievous grouping of Washington lobbyists who habitually team up with certain congress-critters to burrow loopholes in our country's ethics laws.

You might recall the big ethics reform push of 2007. In January of that year, in response to public outrage over breathtakingly flagrant scandals involving Uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and several Republican members of Congress, the new Democratic majority in the U.S. House pushed through a widely ballyhooed set of reforms. Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that the changes would deliver "the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history.

How'd that work out?

Well, the new rules certainly have been an improvement over the anything-goes, corporate lobbyfest of the George W. Bush years. But even as the reforms were being written, mustela congressa lobbyista was busily burrowing its way into the new majority, inserting weaselly language that lets lobbyists continue slipping corporate money to lawmakers. Both ingenious and insidious, the loopholes allow business-as-usual collusion between influence-peddlers and those members of Congress who seem to be incurably allergic to ethics.

One of the major reforms, for example, was an outright ban on lobbyist-financed congressional junkets. Flying influential lawmakers to luxury resorts had been an Abramoff speciality, so reformers declared that these corrupt schmooze flights were to be an absolute no-no. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/144604/hightower%3A_congress_ethics_rules_undermined_by_weasels_