Jack Abramoff’s friend Ralph Reed went down to defeat yesterday in Georgia. Some would say ‘the holier they are, the harder they fall.’ But it also seems timely to re-open our discussion of term limits and other Washington reform proposals.
In the early days local citizens were honored to be sent to Washington to represent their area, stayed for six month sessions and returned home in time to complete the harvest.
Now many new Members of Congress come as idealists ready to tame the Washington beast, but within three terms maximum they seem to have been captured by the beast – and the Washington culture of lobbyists, fundraising, perks and pork.
The lobbyists put up the money that keep incumbents invulnerable to everyone but mega-millionaire challengers. The state legislators draw the district lines that keep incumbents invulnerable to all but a challenge in their own party primary – so they play to their base and polarize things further.
Term limits would mandate turnover. But some worry that it would mean that the only institutional memory in town would belong to the lobbyists. And others worry that unemployed Members of Congress are just lobbyists waiting to be hired.
So do term limits need to be accompanied with other reforms of the way Washington operates. Should all former Members of Congress be banned forever from ever being a lobbyist? Should all lobbyists be banned from giving or raising campaign funds for Members?
Or should Howard Baker’s rule apply: If you can’t vote for the candidate, you can’t give to the candidate. What say you? Join the Shoutbox discussion on term limits that is already in progress or start your own.
Subscribe
You mention "In the early days" but in the early days we couldn't destroy the world in 6 hours. In the early days we didn't have cable or computers. "In the early days" there was still a " Washington culture." We just don't have a realistic picture of it.
Term Limits would make it easier for the Ralp Reeds and the "mega-millionaire challengers."
Talk about Pandora's Box, some have said unity should support great men like Giuliani and Bloomberg but one was term limited and the other is a mega-millionaire challenge.
We seem to forget an incumbent became an incumbent because they once received a majority of the votes.
Publius asks:
"So do term limits need to be accompanied with other reforms of the way Washington operates. Should all former Members of Congress be banned forever from ever being a lobbyist? Should all lobbyists be banned from giving or raising campaign funds for Members?"
I am totally opposed to term limits on Congress. I think there should be a cooling off period and I think conflicts of interest should be avoided but I don't like the "all" and "banned forever" aspects. I don't mind if lobbyists are restricted on their campaign activities because I think they have abdicated their individual rights.
Anon,
Just focusing on your point about lobbyists. I would agree with you that lobbyists by engaging in their profession have to accept certain restrictions just as civil servants do.
As Newt Gingrich writes in "Winning the Future" page 201 about lobbying and its relationship to campaign funds "Lobbying is an honroable and legitimate function but it should be transparent and accountable and it should be seperated from the process of raising campaign money."
Yes Lobbyists are a lightening rod but it is a key mechanism for citizens to get their needs addressed by congress. For example I am a veteran and various veterans groups employ lobbyists to influence policy. It would be hypocritical for me to say veterans lobbyists are fine but ones for cause X are not. Neither should be able to drop campaign cash as part of the lobbying process. Aside from cash lobbying should be transparent.
vry,
RET
Lobbying is fine. It is a necessary part of our political process that let groups of people (but mostly corporations)let their congressmen know how they feel on certain issues.
Unfortunately, when the same people telling you how to vote are the ones that give you your campaign contributions, certain problems inevitably arise.
The viable solution to this problem is public campaign financing. I generally find myself on the right side of the political spectrum, but on this issue public financing is the only way to go.
HT,
Well we agree on the diagnosis.
We disagree on the treatment. I think eliminating the ability of lobbyists to donate is sufficient without some of the problems associated with public financing.
"MEMBER UNC" www.Newt.org
VRY,
RET
Mossyhorn power has to go!
Did Publius Reed or Reid?
Among the biggest Abramoff's beneficiaries were:
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid Of Nevada The Coushattas [An Indian Tribe Represented By Abramoff] Issued A $5,000 Check To Reid's Tax-Exempt Political Group, The Searchlight Leadership Fund."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., The Coushattas Sent $2,000 To Her Campaign And She Received $5,000 More By The End Of That Month. By Year's End, The Total Had Grown To At Least $24,000.
40 0f 45 Democratic Senators Took Abramoff Money
Anon, in this particular post he meant Ralph Reed, not Henry Reid, though both benefited by Abramoff and the Native American tribe loophole.
You are right he could use Harry as an example too though Ralph just lost in a Primary and perhaps made a better or at least more timely point for the blog.
vry,
RET
Like in read the post and look at it in context.
If you want old news:
$100,000 for the Bush-Cheney.
Dennis Hastert , DeLay, Roy Blunt ...
Look here for more.
http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff_donor.asp
I'll bet a lot of folks are glad right now that we have term limits on the presidency.
Frankly, I think they are a good idea for congress as well. Seems like everyone that goes to Washington becomes a captive of the pork barrel and what time is not spent at the public trough is spent chasing after money to get re-elected.
Term limits probably would not stop the money chasing but we would manage to get some new blood in there.
Dave Schaffer
Salt Lake City
You have in in reverse. Instead of banning lobbyists (which is a free speech issue) , ban politicans (which is a ethics issue) from accepting money. Nobody put a knife to Mccains throat or a gun to Reids head to make them take the dirty money.
Why are all the negatives thrown at our representives? Don't they really represent what the people want?
Who's to resist? If someone else is paying .. aren't they voting in their own self interest?
It's a rob peter to pay paul and rob paul to pay charlie .. and rob charlie to pay paula and to rob paula to pay peter again .. around and around. Each voter
sees the benefit of his government gift.. but is blinded by the loss of his work product to someone else.
My name is Blaine Glasser and I need your help. A while back I sent out an email and I believe the email is having an effect. If we can give it legs I think it stands a chance. Here is the email that I sent out to around 50 people: My name is Blaine Glasser and I want to get an idea going for the next election. All you people out there that are sick of politics, have no party affiliation, are democrat and sick of the democrats, are republican and are sick of the republicans, people that never vote, people that have given up voting, and any others that think this is a good idea, lets all do something in the next election cycle. Let’s throw them ALL out. Whoever you vote for….. make sure it’s the guy NOT in power. Do not look at if its democrat or republican. Do not let it bother you that your guy might be voted out. Just vote for the other guy. I am a conservative republican and that’s just what I’m going to do. I’m going to vote for the challenger no matter who it is. I want every congressman in the United States to be thrown out. This includes the state too. I’m not just saying federal, I’m saying ALL OF THEM. Democrat becomes republican and republican becomes democrat. They’ll never see it coming. All of you out there that don’t care or those who just like to mess with the system. Those that are fed up and want to teach them a very valuable lesson. All they do is lie, cheat, steal. They’re all corrupt. All the democrats are saying ya that’s right those damn republicans. The republicans are saying ya that’s right those damn democrats. Doesn’t that tell you something? Any bells going off? Whistles maybe? They’re all guilty. Truth becomes a lie, lie becomes the truth. They will say or do anything as long as they get reelected. That’s all that matters to them. Be AGAINST the other guy. They all break promises for 1 reason or another. There’s always an excuse. So! First time ever! Show them who really controls their fate. Those who have NEVER voted. Ya, uhhuh, the non voters. Look at how many there are. Millions, 10s of millions. Add to this all the people that are sick of it and people who switch and it can’t fail. If you all vote for the other guy and everyone else that’s sick of it all does, It’ll blow them away. The challenger always gets some votes anyways so these would all be extra. It would take very few people considering how many of you that there are out there. If you think this is a good idea and want to join me…….pass this on to people you know. Don’t just SAY this sounds like a good idea…. DO IT! What do you have to lose? 10 minutes of voting time? Talk about it to the neighbors. Talk to the family about it. Tell everyone. IF nothing else-à Forward this email. I bet there’s a lot of other people out there who would love to do this. Find them. Get them to VOTE FOR THE CHALLENGER!!!!!
Thanks for reading and thanks for forwarding and thanks for…………. VOTING FOR THE CHALLENGER.
Blaine
If you would like to comment on this, good or bad, my email address is BlaineGlasser@yahoo.com
I'm hoping you all think this is a good idea.To be ferfectly clear...My 1 desire in all this is to get every incumbent thrown out of officw across the USA. NOT using a 3rd party but using the parties against themselves. I need to get the word out even more. I do tend to believe that the email did and is having an effect. However so slightly things are happening.
Term limits are a band-aid on the real problem here... campaign finance reform. Take away the special interest / lobbyist dollars for elections, and you level the field. After all, most elected officials are worried about getting re-elected, and that's where the lobbyist dollars get tempting. Term limits could help by encouraging new, more idealistic candidates to run, but it does nothing positive without campaign finance reforms.
Campaigns should be funded by US, the public. Campaign dollars can be allocated equally, to qualifed candidates (i.e., they have received a min. of 10% of votes in previous elections, or other equally valid criteria) for limited campaign time. Funding is provided by the government, with our tax dollars. This creates an environment whereby elected officials are not constantly worrying about how they will get re-elected and who will fund them! Instead, they will be free to work!
Term limits have their place, mainly as an incentive to new candidates - that every so often, their seat will be up for re-election to a new candidate; however, I also subscribe to the idea that there is value in keeping the experiential wisdom of a seasoned public servant in place to mentor younger, inexperienced people.
Unless we get a third party in to clean up the mess left by Democrats and Republicans alike, there will be no United States of America. There will be no hope for future generations insofar as government of the people,by the people and for the people. We, the people have already been left out of the loop. How many Americans are aware or have even heard of the Transcontinental Corridore; which will create a dividing Superhighway system, that will divide this country in half and is being built by foreign countries upon American soil. When completed it will be owned and operated by those foreign nations as tollroads, built on American soil, which was acquired by eminant domaine. When the congress of TEXAS passed legislation stopping it from coming across Texas the bill was VETOED by RICK PERRY. It will parallel I-35 from the Mexican border to Canada. Our present party system will cease to exist and there will be no boundries at all. We have already seen one congressman refuse to be sworn in on the HOLY BIBLE and was instead sworn in on the Koran. It is a shame that there are so many uninformed Americans who don'treally care enough to become informed and a lot more that just have blind trust in the incumbents. Only term limits will correct this continueing,ongoing, mess in Washington D.C.