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4everlost (39.19)

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act

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December 29, 2009 – Comments (5) | RELATED TICKERS: DEM , CRT

This is from January 18, 2006.  Many CAPS players will get a kick (in the side) from this.

 

"There's a price to pay for this corruption in Washington, and we can see it in the state of our union," 

 

5 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On December 29, 2009 at 11:23 AM, devoish (98.84) wrote:

Most of the issues talked about in the link are the responsibility of the Federal Election Commission to enforce.

No more than three of the six commissioners can come from any one political party (Perhaps no more than two would be better). As it stands now all have come from either the Dems or Repubs. All six were nominated by former President GW Bush. All but one were unanimously approved in the Senate.

The Sunlight Foundation Blog does a very good job of presenting the failures and successes of campaign finance reform. For example they count as a success the transparency required of stimulus program lobbying:

The administration’s move today to announce additional lobbying restrictions on stimulus spending recognizes that political influence is wielded by more than just registered lobbyists, moving to curb it in the most sensitive circumstances, while preserving the strongest part of the original program: the move to real-time online disclosure of contacts from registered lobbyists.

And it counts as a failure the FEC's intrepretation of some finance reforms passed by Congress;

The Federal Election Commission — the supposed referee of fair campaigning — has just created an ethics loophole big enough for lobbyists to fly a corporate jet through. The commission has taken upon itself to reverse the Senate’s self-restriction against lawmakers’ cozy cut-rate travels on corporate jets.

Barney Frank had a success.

But for President Obama progress is being considered, not yet made.

The US Chamber of Commerce, the largest not for profit reresenting the interests of private business's may have deeper ethical problems than either Congress or the President. Certainly the ethics reform President Obama is considering in the above link will hurt some of their revolving door lobbyists.

Interestingly, at least to me, The Chamber's mission staement sounds like it borrowed alot from the Mises Institute; "To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility.

 

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#2) On December 29, 2009 at 11:51 AM, 4everlost (39.19) wrote:

On December 29, 2009 at 11:23 AM, devoish (99.66) wrote:

Most of the issues talked about in the link are the responsibility of the Federal Election Commission to enforce.

Did you read the same article I did?

"This poison tree of corruption has borne the fruits of bad legislation - legislation that has come at great cost to the American people. Democrats are leading the effort to turn the most closed, corrupt Congress we have ever seen into the most open and honest Congress in history." - The FEC has no impact on this problem.

"The corruption of Washington has done far more damage than sending politicians on golf junkets or showering them with gifts. It has shaken the faith of the American people in a government that looks out for their interests and upholds their values," said Senator Obama. - The faith of the American people is at its lowest in decades.

The Federal Gub'ment and most State Gub'ments have been corrupt for 2 - 3 decades.  It is a problem throughout both parties.  I think the behind-closed-door negotiations for the Health Care bill in the Senate is corruption.  The most obvious examples are LA and NE.  The Senate basically took taxpayers' money and offered it to the Senators in those states so they would vote for a bill.  That is paying for votes - corruption.

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#3) On December 29, 2009 at 1:00 PM, devoish (98.84) wrote:

Why do you spell government with a "b"?

Yes I read the article. Lots of people seem to be making a good living telling me how awful government is.

Money is transferred from private interests such as the private insurers through the use of campaign contributions whose rules are enforced by the FEC. It is suspected that those contributions lead to corporate friendly legislation. It is more likely that the relentless corporate pounding on the eardrums of elected officials makes them stupid.

Your articles mentioned the dems promises concerning "jack abramoff reform" "Ralph reed reform" and "tony rudy reform" all three of which concern campaign finance reform or the "revolving door between congressional staffers and corporate interests. My links discussed progress and lack there-of on both issues.

Nothing in either of the Dems press releases you linked to concerned the issue of Senators using their vote to negotiate in favor of their States. In fact, it is how the framers of the Constitution ensured the concerns of "small" States would not be run over by the "big" States. As a "big" State New Yorker I have no problem that some of my federal tax dollars are used to help out with the additional expenses of delivering health care to the rural areas of our Country where the population is so thin that "economys of scale" cannot be realized.  

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#4) On December 29, 2009 at 2:39 PM, ChrisGraley (99.66) wrote:

Where does bribing the state of Nebraska and holding public votes on bills in the Senate that they haven't even seen, fit into this?

Also any sentence that includes both Barney Frank and the word "success" is by definition an oxymoron.

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#5) On December 29, 2009 at 7:06 PM, devoish (98.84) wrote:

Also any sentence that includes both Barney Frank and the word "success" is by definition an oxymoron.

Point given.

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