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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim S who wrote (4723)	11/14/2006 1:04:24 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

I don't insist on perfection. I'm not just saying the idea can not have a perfect result, I'm saying it is almost definitely totally unworkable. I suppose you could have a report card for things like "% of votes made", or other truly non-partisan, non-ideological things but they aren't really all that important. If a congressman misses a couple of votes I don't care too much unless they are very important ones (and even on those I'd rather have him miss than vote the wrong way). If he misses important votes, or misses a huge number of votes I'm sure his opponent will use that fact against him in the next election.

To: Jim S who wrote (4723)	11/14/2006 1:18:19 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

At the heart of our desire to see change in the political system is the nagging feeling that we are being had by the pros in congress. If we could effectively eliminate corruption from the politics of congress, would we still care about term limits? ============================= "During the campaign season, [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi leaned heavily on the so-called Republican “culture of corruption,” and she vowed that if her party took control in January, the first order of business on Day One would be ethics reform. Lobbyists won’t like the changes she has in mind. Neither will a lot of members of Congress grown accustomed to perks lobbyists have been eager to bestow all these years — with no strings attached, of course." — Lincoln Journal-Star Editorial, "We hope Dems do better on ethics reform," November 12, 2006 =============================================== CREW BLASTS PELOSI ENDORSEMENT OF UNETHICAL MURTHA FOR MAJORITY LEADER DEMOCRATS WIN ON ETHICS BUT CHOOSE TO RUN CORRUPT MEMBER FOR LEADERSHIP POST Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) questioned soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) commitment to eradicating corruption with her endorsement of one of the most unethical members in Congress, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), to be Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. Rep. Murtha was listed in CREW’s report Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch). As reported in the study and by the news media, Rep. Murtha has been involved in a number of pay-to play schemes involving former staffers and his brother, Robert “Kit” Murtha. Eight incumbents in CREW’s report lost their races to ethics issues. “Future House Speaker Pelosi’s endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today. “How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically-challenged member for a leadership position? Rep. Murtha is the wrong choice for this job.” Not only is Rep. Murtha beset by ethics issues, The New York Times reported on October 2, 2006 that he has consistently opposed ethics and earmark reform. Sloan continued, “Rep. Murtha’s opposition to ethics reform does not bode well for future Speaker Pelosi’s promise to enact ethics legislation in the first 100 hours of the new Congress.”