Today's special election in California should send a message to out-of-touch Republicans.
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Two years ago Francine Busby, a Democrat and school board member in suburban San Diego, ran for Congress and was trounced by Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Today Cunningham is behind bars, and Ms. Busby has a very good shot at winning a special election to serve out the remainder of his term.
Her rise as a candidate this year in a district that in 2004 gave her a mere 36% of the vote and went for George W. Bush by 10 points isn't a fluke. It's a warning of what happens in even "safe" GOP districts when Republicans ignore political corruption and try to turn out the vote by inflaming the party's base with immigration or other hot-button issues. Voters are smarter than politicians like to think, and even conservative districts are capable of electing Democrats to Congress when Republicans forget why they were sent to Washington in the first place: to clean up the place, cut taxes, cut spending and make government more responsive to the people.
Cunningham's fall from power was as shocking as it was rapid. Late last year the eight-term congressman and former Navy fighter pilot admitted to taking bribes from defense contractors. Among other things, he was living on a boat in Washington paid for with payoffs. His district, home to horse farms and conservative voters, was stunned by his blatant abuse of power. But for a brief moment the Republican Party had an opportunity to turn the scandal around and take a stand against corruption when Cunningham admitted his guilt and resigned.
But in the months that followed, Republicans have done little to demonstrate that they understand that corruption is an issue that extends far beyond partisan lines. There was a lot of talk about passing ethics reforms after disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges a few months ago. And House Republicans elected Rep. John Boehner as their new majority leader after their old leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, was closely linked to Abramoff. Mr. DeLay is now retiring from Congress. But no substantive legislation or reform of House rules has been enacted, and Republicans have mostly deflected the Abramoff scandal by claiming that the lobbyist's misdeeds involved plenty of Democrats as well.
It's true that the scandal is larger than the GOP. But Republican voter anger isn't limited to lawbreaking, payoffs and outright corruption. It's also about profligate spending and the growing influence of lobbyists. Mr. DeLay didn't become radioactive because he broke the law. Indeed, he likely stayed within the law, even as he steered money to Texas to elect more Republicans and some of his staff members quit to go to work for Abramoff. Mr. DeLay's problem was that he came to power as a reformer and by late last year was pretty comfortable with business as usual inside the Beltway. He didn't catch the shifting political wind against earmarks and other ways members of Congress tap into the federal coffers for their own political gain. He probably sealed his fate when he declared that Republicans had cut all the fat there was to cut from the federal budget--even while Congress was planning a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska.
Republicans are so clueless on the connection of corruption scandals and rampant spending that after Cunningham resigned, the party establishment rallied around former Rep. Brian Bilbray to run for the open seat. In an open April 11 primary, Ms. Busby outpolled Mr. Bilbray, 43.7% to 15.3%, though he led a crowded field of Republicans and thus forced her into today's run-off.
By all accounts Mr. Bilbray is an honest man with a clean political record. But he also retired from Congress in 2001 to become a lobbyist and is just as out of touch as the political elite he wants to rejoin. Instead of basing his campaign on rooting out corruption, he is--bless him--pinning his hopes of winning the race on a promise to get tough on illegal immigration. If he succeeds at changing the subject and firing up Republican voters, he may just squeak out a victory. But the party remains divided, as Mr. Bilbray also must contend in today's primary for the election in November.
Ms. Busby is appealing across party lines to voters fed up with business as usual in Washington and has made cleaning up the "culture of corruption"--as her Democratic colleagues have dubbed it--a centerpiece of her campaign. She is also telling voters that this election is their chance to "send a message." Voters seem to be responding. Going into the weekend, polls showed her tied with Mr. Bilbray and even Republicans declare the race "too close to call."
If Ms. Busby loses, it may be because of a misstep last week. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a man at a rally told her he'd like to help with the campaign, but "I don't have papers." She responded, "You don't need papers for voting." Later she said she had merely meant to say, "that you do not have to be a registered voter to help the campaign."
The broader issue here is that congressional corruption is rampant and Congress is doing little about it. After the FBI raided Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office last month, Speaker Denny Hastert and other Republicans joined with Democrats in denouncing the raid of the Louisiana Democrat's office, even though the FBI allegedly has a video tape of Mr. Jefferson accepting $100,000 in cash and later found $90,000 of that money in a freezer at his home. It's true that there is a separation-of-powers issue at stake. But constitutional arguments can be abstract and hard for the public to follow. What voters do understand is payoffs with cold hard cash. Do Republicans understand the politics of that?
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
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