Friday, December 31, 2004
House GOP to Gut Ethics Commitee;
To Vote to OK Bribery & Corruption;
Capitol Hill To Become "Dodge City"
Ahhhh, the glories of the holidays, with their glacially slow news days.0 comments
That can mean only one thing: more stories about GOP outrages.
Today's "Story that's guaranteed not to be seen by anybody until it's too late":
House to Consider Relaxing Its Rules
(GN emphasis):
The proposed change would essentially negate a general rule of conduct that the ethics committee has often cited in admonishing lawmakers—including Majority Leader Tom DeLay—for bringing discredit on the House even if their behavior was not covered by a specific regulation. Backers of the rule, adopted three decades ago, say it is important because the House's conduct code cannot anticipate every instance of questionable behavior that might reflect poorly on the chamber.
Republicans, returning to the Capitol on Tuesday after increasing their House majority by three seats in the Nov. 2 election, also want to relax a restriction on relatives of lawmakers accepting foreign and domestic trips from groups interested in legislation before the House.
A third proposed rule change would allow either party to STOP the House ethics committee from investigating a complaint against a member.
Currently, if the panel, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, is deadlocked on a complaint, the matter automatically goes to an investigative subcommittee after 45 days. The proposed change would drop any complaint that is not backed by a majority vote to move it forward.
Government watchdog groups called the proposals startling and unjustified. If the proposed rules are adopted next week as GOP leaders suggest, they would amount to "the biggest backtracking on House ethics rules that we have seen," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21.
Nothing any GOP Congressman does is out of bounds any longer. They no longer have to be circumspect about being crooks and thieves; now they can shout it from the highest D.C. Memorial. They're about to stuff their pockets and their mattresses without even looking over their shoulders, because they won't have to anymore.
And "Relaxing" is very much a misnomer here.
They're about to gut the Ethics Committee like a sturgeon.
And as quickly as a long-time fish cutter at the Fulton Fish Market can, too. They're going to have a day of "discussion" on Monday, and vote on it on Tuesday. That's it. Biff. Pow. Complete.
Americans won't even have time to put the kids back in school, and catch their breath after the holidays, before they realize the U.S. House of Representatives is officially and openly up for sale to the highest bidders.
So, if you're not watching C-SPAN early this week, you'll probably end up very confused as to why "your Representative" doesn't even TRY to hide the bribes and special interest-paid junkets he's taking. Or his wife or brother are. And why there's not even a note about "the concerns of my constituents are important to me" on his web site anymore.
That's because they are not!
Unless they ante up the cash.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Den of Thieves Is Open for Business!
How long until GOPers start openly shooting Democrats who annoy them on the floor of The Den of Thieves? Gives a whole new weight to VP Cheney's "Fuck yourself" to Sen. Patrick Leahy. The GOP is THAT out of control.
ePop Quiz:
When's the last time that your District's Thief in The Den of Thieves,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 11:46 PM
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