guarding the chicken coop?

[welshTerrier2]

Dems are in power now ... in their first 100 hours, they passed some excellent reforms to restrict some of the power that lobbyists and big money have enjoyed ... some have asserted that their efforts were nowhere near enough ... too soon to judge? OK, that's fine with me ... but we still need to be vigilant in safeguarding our institutions and, even with Dems in power, it is our job to ensure that influence is not being peddled in the halls of OUR government ...

the article below was written by the director of a group called Public Citizen ... Public Citizen defines their mission as:

We fight for openness and democratic accountability in government, for the right of consumers to seek redress in the courts; for clean, safe and sustainable energy sources; for social and economic justice in trade policies; for strong health, safety and environmental protections; and for safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs and health care.

There have been numerous articles the last few weeks that the "K Street boys" have quickly re-engineered their focus and are now courting Democrats ... if I were a lobbyist, of course, i'd do exactly the same thing ... the question is, how have the Democrats reacted and how should they react? until we get the abusive influence of big money out of our campaigns, nothing will change ... nothing ... and until we stop the lobbyists dead in their tracks, no exceptions, our government will remain a servant of corporate America and not the American people ... you cannot serve two masters; a choice has to be made ... compromising with big money and corruption is no reform at all ... as long as they can spend money on "the best democracy money can buy", we have no real democracy at all ...

is it too early to take a read on the Democrats' reforms? perhaps ... but this item that slipped through the budget process sends a very, very disturbing signal indeed ...

source: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/25/big_oil_gets_to_keep_its_loot.php

When the U.S. House of Representatives voted to eliminate $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry on January 18, it left at least one item off its target list: a billion-dollar handout to a research consortium that includes publicly traded companies that reaped $100 billion in profits in 2005. <skip>

Championed by disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the oil and gas subsidy was slipped late one night into the massive Energy Policy Act of 2005 after a House-Senate conference committee had completed its deliberations on the bill. The conferees thus had no chance to consider the provision before it reached the House and Senate floor. Though this is not the first time we have seen a corporate giveaway stealthily inserted into a bill in the early hours of the morning, it is a striking example of how taxpayers get bilked by corporations and Congress. <skip>

RPSEA was the only applicant and, predictably, was chosen to handle disbursement of the money, overseen by DOE. RPSEA has more than 90 members, including research universities, national laboratories and privately owned energy firms. Its membership also includes 17 publicly traded energy giants like Halliburton, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, which combined had record profits in 2005 in excess of $100 billion. The Republican chairmen and senior Democrats on the House and Senate energy policy committees were blamed for the late-night shenanigans. Incidentally, these committee members and DeLay had received significant campaign cash from companies that were then, or would become, RPSEA members. <skip>

The House rules bill and the Senate lobbying and ethics bill passed in January taken together are a good beginning. <skip>

Public Citizen recommends the following reforms be included in the anticipated House-lobbying bill and in the final ethics and lobbying bill expected from a conference committee in the coming weeks:

* There should be full public funding of congressional elections—something that would cost $1.3 billion for a two-year election cycle, less than the cost of this research program—to eliminate the nexus between cash and legislation.
* The restoration of regular order in Congress so that legislation cannot be slipped into bills at the eleventh hour without full and open debate.
* The rules committees should define “earmarks”—under the new disclosure requirements—to include items that are a sham competition, tailored so narrowly that only one or a small group of applicants could possibly qualify.
* A strengthened restriction on government officials, including members of Congress and their staffs, passing through the revolving door to K Street.
* Extensive earmark disclosure and removal rules.

[hashibabba]

1. Thanks so much for all the good information! You're right, we

do need to stay on top of them. I know they're trying and I applaud their efforts in the past three weeks. We just need to keep phoning and writing and letting them know where we stand and what we want done.