Republican Regurgitation
When CA-50 Democratic congressional candidate, Francine Busby unveiled her CLEAN House proposal in November and asked her Republican competitors to join her is supporting that proposal, she was greeted with complete silence. County Republican Chairman Ron Nehring, a close associate of Grover Norquist, dismissed Busby's proposal as nothing more than the "regurgitation" of "spoon fed" Democratic talking points.
Busby's Novermber proposal was a simple four point plan to reduce the influence of lobbyists on Congress by prohibiting certain lobbyist provided perks and increasing the public's visibility to the "earmarking" process that allows a member of congress to provide funding for projects without any public knowledge of their intervention. Busby's plan has these provisions:
"1. Ban All Outside Financial Relationships With Government Contractors.
2. Ban Members Promoting Specific Businesses For Government Contracts of Regulatory Favors.
3. Eliminate Anonymous Appropriations [earmarking].
4. Ban All Privately Funded Congressional Travel."
It is interesting that today, the editor of the conservative National Review suggested the following congressional reforms:
"It will be a sign that Congress has learned something if it bans all privately funded travel. If a trip is truly educational and necessary, the public should fund it; if, on the other hand, a member of Congress wants to enjoy fine resorts, he should quit, practice law (or whatever), and earn the income to support his desired lifestyle.
The other problem is that Washington makes obscure decisions that enrich small groups of people. Most everyone in Washington supports making these decisions because it increases his or her power. But if Congress really wants to lessen the malign influence of lobbyists, it should reform the inherently corruptible process whereby the Interior Department recognizes new Native American tribes so they can mint money by opening casinos, and end the practice of "earmarking" federal dollars for local and special-interest projects. It's no accident that Abramoff saw the business potential in both of these processes."
Damn regurgitated Democratic talking points.
Busby's Novermber proposal was a simple four point plan to reduce the influence of lobbyists on Congress by prohibiting certain lobbyist provided perks and increasing the public's visibility to the "earmarking" process that allows a member of congress to provide funding for projects without any public knowledge of their intervention. Busby's plan has these provisions:
"1. Ban All Outside Financial Relationships With Government Contractors.
2. Ban Members Promoting Specific Businesses For Government Contracts of Regulatory Favors.
3. Eliminate Anonymous Appropriations [earmarking].
4. Ban All Privately Funded Congressional Travel."
It is interesting that today, the editor of the conservative National Review suggested the following congressional reforms:
"It will be a sign that Congress has learned something if it bans all privately funded travel. If a trip is truly educational and necessary, the public should fund it; if, on the other hand, a member of Congress wants to enjoy fine resorts, he should quit, practice law (or whatever), and earn the income to support his desired lifestyle.
The other problem is that Washington makes obscure decisions that enrich small groups of people. Most everyone in Washington supports making these decisions because it increases his or her power. But if Congress really wants to lessen the malign influence of lobbyists, it should reform the inherently corruptible process whereby the Interior Department recognizes new Native American tribes so they can mint money by opening casinos, and end the practice of "earmarking" federal dollars for local and special-interest projects. It's no accident that Abramoff saw the business potential in both of these processes."
Damn regurgitated Democratic talking points.
posted by RJB at 1:52 PM
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