Instead of shining a spotlight the Democrats turned on the floodlights
Common Sense and Wonder
Jack Kelly: The ethics war
Democrats throw stones that rebound
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Democrats in Congress are beginning to find out.
(Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio)
Rep. Norman Dicks, D-Wash., has reimbursed the Spectrum Group, a defense lobbying firm, $571 for food and lodging in Fort Lauderdale in February, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday. It is against House rules for a lawmaker or staffer to accept gratuities from lobbyists, though non-profit groups may pay for their travel expenses.
The Associated Press reported the same day that expenses for a trip Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., took to the Northern Mariana islands in 1996 were paid by Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist currently under criminal investigation.
The Washington Times reported April 20 a lobbying firm paid the $3,336 tab for a trip Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and her husband took to Puerto Rico in 2001.
Dozens of congressmen of both parties are rushing to amend their travel and campaign records, The Washington Post reported April 26.
This is fallout from the effort by Democrats and their allies in the news media to paint House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas as "corrupt."
DeLay is a shady character, Democrats say, because he has hired members of his family to work on his campaigns and for his political action committee, and he's gone on trips paid for by lobbyists.
But it's not against House rules, much less against the law, to hire family members with private funds, and many other lawmakers have done it.
Three overseas trips taken by DeLay are under scrutiny. One, to South Korea in 2001, was sponsored by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, which later registered as a foreign agent. But other members and staff were on that trip, including a senior aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. That aide was the only congressional traveler to fail to file the required paperwork.
The other trips, to Russia and Britain in 2000, were sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a legitimate non-profit. Abramoff was on its board. He put DeLay's expenses for the London trip on his credit card, and was reimbursed by the foundation. It isn't clear whether this is a technical violation of House rules, or if DeLay was aware of it at the time.
It is clear DeLay is a piker when it comes to congressional travel. PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan watchdog group, released a study April 27 that showed members of Congress have taken 5,400 official trips at a cost of $16 million over the last five years. The top 10 frequent travelers all were Democrats, ranging from 61 to 39 trips.
DeLay was ranked 119th with 14 trips.
Democrats and liberal journalists want to destroy DeLay because he's been an effective leader. He isn't nicknamed "The Hammer" for nothing. By heaping charge upon charge, they hope to damage DeLay's reputation and make him a liability.
One can consider DeLay's closeness to lobbyists unseemly, as I am inclined to do. But what is sauce for the goose ought also to be sauce for the gander. If it is wrong for DeLay to hire family members to work on his campaign, then it is wrong for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to do so. If it is all right for Pelosi to take trips funded by private groups, then it is all right for DeLay to do so.
Journalists know full well that these activities are commonplace, but they make it seem as if only DeLay were engaging in them. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
It's important to remember that despite all the smoke Democrats and their allies in the news media are blowing, there is no evidence DeLay has knowingly violated a House rule, much less broken a law.
Meanwhile, journalists overlook evidence of actual felonies ... if they've been committed by Democrats.
You haven't read much about it, but David Rosen, finance chief for the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will go on trial soon for collecting a massive amount of campaign contributions he knew were illegal.
It's possible Clinton didn't know about the illegal activities Rosen undertook on her behalf. It's possible I'll win the lottery. But that's not the way to bet.
Republicans don't have the news media in the tank for them, as Democrats do. But they do have a lot of ammunition to fire in the ethics "war" Democrats have started. What goes around comes around.
Posted by Jerry Scharf
commonsensewonder.com |
