House Ethics Committee is apparently Stirring
Apparently the House Ethics Committee has slipped past their logjam, and are now going to get down to work. It’s a simple equation: Give the Ds a Bob Ney and give the Rs a William Jefferson.
I think this just might work. Kind of. Sort of. Not really. Somewhat.
Line up the Corrupt Democrats — Ethically challenged, soaking in blood, who conceptualize their seat of power as nothing more than a conduit to the monied interests that have propped them up.
(1) William Jefferson of Louisiana. There’s not a whole lot of surprise that there’s a corrupt Democrat popping out of Louisiana. Huey Long casts a long shadow in that state.
(2) Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia.
(3) Oh, there’s probably some Representative from Illinois that churned out of Richard Daley’s Chicago Machine, or somewhere around there.
(4) Is there some protege of Torricelli floating up there, from the great state of New Jersey (another bastion of Corrupt Politicos)?
All of this adds up to the “Culture of Hypocrisy” that one political party is levelling at the other political party for charging them with the “Culture of Corruption”.
Turn over to the Republican side of the aisle.
Perhaps the House Ethics Committee is beside the point. After all,
(1) Tom DeLay of Texas has been bumped out even with all the stalling in the world. I note for all the world to behold: he had the levels of control with the Dominant Political Party in Washington. This is the very definition of “systematic”.
(2) Duke Cunningham of California was bumped out, with nary a word uttered by such a thing as a “House Ethics Committee”. The comedy with Duke Cunningham is that he is, quite literally, by the measurement of personal use of public goods, the Most Corrupt Congress Critter in American History.
It is at this point that I admit that these two have, by some means and perhaps the means are less important than the result, been dealt with. But never mind, we are just going to have to grandfather these people into the “one for one” equation. I suggest the possibility that everyone who is more or less a subordinate to these politicos (on both sides) should be court martialed in this little game… but that would toss out maybe 227 of the 232 Republicans.
(3) Bob Ney of Ohio. Also Known as “Representative #1”, because when you release anonymous name in court documents you need some placeholder to allow a person to say something instead of “Blacked out”.
(4) John Doolittle of California.
It is at this point in time in which we have reached a Democrat to Republican equal ratio, even as I tossed up two unnamed hypothetical but plausible Democratic examples that have not materialized that a little digging might unearth, if the Republicans care to pass out the line of “Culture of Hypocrisy” against the Democratic charge of “Culture of Corruption.” Tit for tat. Tat for tit. If things become a bit shallow on one end, so be it. Maybe I can grandfather James Trafficant into this equation, but I don’t feel like it — a Democrat that voted for Hastert for House Speaker — whether this makes him a better or worse guy than Zell Miller, who voted for Tom Daschle over Bill Frist and Trent Lott, and then proceeded to confer with Frist and Lott, I do not know.
(5) Charles Taylor of North Carolina.
It is at this point in the game that the Republicans can give us their investigations into — um — Jim McDermott of Washington and — um — Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. The former Doc Hastings says he’s looking into, the latter Tom DeLay says he was going to file one against for her infamous incident with House Security — such as that was — though it appears he won’t — probably whatever amusement comes from this petty little fit of frustration has faded.
The reality is that the Democratic Party in Congress can’t hope of becoming as corrupt as the Republican Party in Congress until they gain any power, by simple definition corruption requires Power. Wait a decade and the revolving door game might be able to be played. But only sort of — does anybody remember what the Corruption of the lingering into the early 90s Democratic Congress was like that Newt Gingrich railed against, anyway?