Last thursday, accompanied by a handful of concerned constituents, Fmr. Congressman Bob Shamansky, now the Democratic candidate for congress in Ohio's 12th District, delivered his plan, and his pledge to clean up the ethical mess the republican leadership has made in Congress. Standing before Rep. Pat Tiberi's district office, Bob laid out the key points in his plan to end the influence of corporate lobbyists, and end the waste full earmark process that enables pay to play politics in Washington.
In my
opinion, Congressmen earning over $165,000 per year can buy their own damn meals, gifts and plane rides. My bill will ban such meals and gifts. No exceptions. No excuses.
You can read the key points of Bob's plan, and the full text of Bob's speech after the jump, or read his ethics pledge here...
Bob's plan would:
- Permanently ban Congressional meals, gifts or travel paid for by lobbyists or
organizations that retain or employ them.
- Permanently ban Members of Congress from flying on corporate or privately
owned aircraft unless such aircraft are owned by the Member or the
Member's family.
- To the extent possible, mandate a complete prohibition against the use of
"earmarks" in the Federal budgeting process. In any event, no project shall
be funded in which a Member of Congress has a financial interest, whether
personal or campaign-related.
- Ensure independent investigations of alleged Congressional wrong-doing by
establishing an Office of Public Integrity under the control of the Inspector
General of the House of Representatives. Said office will audit and
investigate compliance with lobbying disclosure rules and refer violations to
the U. S. Department of Justice for possible prosecution.
- Mandate that Members of Congress found guilty of a felony related to their
official duties shall lose, forfeit and not receive any Congressional pension to
which they or their family members would otherwise be entitled.
Bob's Complete remarks...
Shakespeare once wrote of "something rotten in the state of Denmark."
Today, the problem isn't in Denmark ---it's in Washington, D.C.
So I have come here not just to make a speech, but to take a stand.
A stand against corruption. A stand against hypocrisy. A stand against the open
sewer that Congress has become.
In recent months, we have seen Tom DeLay --the House Majority Leader --indicted
for ethics violations and forced to resign his seat in Congress.
We've seen Bob Ney ---a Republican Congressman from central Ohio ---promising to
run for re-election even if he's indicted as widely expected.
We've seen William Jefferson ---a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana--- found
with $90,000 of unexplained money stuffed into his freezer.
And we've seen "Duke" Cunningham ---a Republican Congressman from California
--- plead guilty to bribery and be sentenced to prison.
But the problem isn't that a few bad apples are breaking the law.
The far bigger problem is that Congress has become so corrupted by lobbyists,
money and perks that it's stopped looking out for the people ---and looks out instead
for the special interests who wine them, dine them, and finance their re-election
campaigns.
So they allow lobbyists to write an energy bill loaded with giveaways to the oil and
gas industry ---despite the fact that consumers here in the 12th Congressional District
and all across America are paying sky-high prices at the pump.
They pass fat pay raises for themselves ----$30,000 over the past 9 years ----but then
fail to raise the minimum wage for hard-working Americans.
And in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions,
Congress flatly prohibits the federal government from negotiating the lowest possible
prices for prescriptions under the new Medicare drug program. The result is huge
profits for the giant drug companies ---and growing financial hardship for senior
citizens in Franklin, Delaware and Licking counties.
In fact, Billy Tauzan ---the former Congressman from Louisiana who authored that
Medicare drug program which enriched the drug companies ---left Congress shortly
thereafter to take a new job. He's now the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical
industry ---at a reported salary of $2 million per year.
No wonder a CBS News poll found that just 35% of Americans approve of the way
Congress is doing its job.
In light of all this, you might think Congress would clean up its act.
You might think that ---but you would be wrong.
After promising top-to-bottom ethics reform last January, Congress is back to
business-as-usual.
First, the reform they promised got watered down into the deceptively named
"Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006" ---a bill so transparently
bad that one major newspaper said it "will cure corruption the same way an aspirin
cures baldness"....in other words, not at all.
And now they won't even pass that. This is the last week the House is in session
before they "recess" for the summer. And no ethics bill is scheduled for a vote.
So today, I have come to Pat Tiberi's Congressional Office to say that this foot-
dragging is completely unacceptable.
I have come to tell the voters what I will do if they elect me in November.
And I have come to ask Pat Tiberi either to join me in true ethics reform ---or to
explain to the voters why he won't.
If I am elected, I pledge to introduce a bill to clean up Congress on my first day in
office. And today, I ask Pat Tiberi to join me in signing that pledge.
True ethics reform must do at least 3 things.
First, it must cut the cozy link between lobbyists and Congress once and for all.
The so-called "reform bill" that Mr. Tiberi supports would merely suspend privately
funded travel until the end of this year ---in other words, until after the November
elections are safely over.
My bill will put a complete and total ban on Congressional travel that is funded by
lobbyists or private interests. Not just this year, but forever.
The bill Mr. Tiberi supports would allow Members of Congress to keep flying on
corporate jets with company CEOs.
My bill will ban Members of Congress from using corporate or privately owned jets.
Period.
When it comes to free meals from lobbyists, Mr. Tiberi's bill would continue to
permit them. When it comes to lobbyist-supplied gifts, Mr. Tiberi's bill says only
that they should be disclosed.
My bill will ban such meals and gifts. No exceptions. No excuses.
In my opinion, Congressmen earning over $165,000 per year can buy their own
damn meals, gifts and plane rides.
The second thing true ethics reform must do is put an end to the so-called budgetary
"ear marks" which are ballooning Federal deficits by mandating spending huge
amounts of money to finance pork barrel projects in specific favored Congressional
districts.
Earmarks are open invitations to corruption. Sometimes, members of Congress have
a direct financial interest in these projects. Other times, they're used to generate
campaign contributions from special interests who do the work. And earmarks
waste taxpayer money on boondoggles like the infamous $233 million Alaskan
"Bridge to Nowhere."
Mr. Tiberi talks about fiscal responsibility. But since his party took control of the
Federal government, earmarks have proliferated like mushrooms.
In 1996, there were just over 3,000 earmarks in the Federal budget. Today, there are
over 14,000. And their overall cost has ballooned to an incredible $52.7 billion
dollars.
The ethics bill Mr. Tiberi voted for only requires a list of earmarks ---but
conveniently does not apply to authorization or tax bills. In other words, it would
not have covered scams like the "Bridge to Nowhere."
As a result, Mr. Tiberi and his Party are apparently feeling the heat. Late yesterday,
the Republican leadership of the House announced that sometime in September, they
will ---and I quote --- "adopt and implement earmark reform rule changes." Of
course, they didn't bother to tell us precisely what those rule changes are or exactly
how they will fix the earmark problem.
Well, I won't make the voters wait until September to learn what I will do. My bill
will not seek to "change the rules" for earmarks ---my bill will seek to end hidden earmarks once and for all. And my bill will specifically prohibit the funding of any
project that any Member of Congress has a financial interest in ---whether that
interest is personal or campaign-related. Under my bill, I can promise you that there
will be no more bridges to nowhere.
Apparently, Mr. Tiberi sees nothing wrong with this arrangement.
I think it's preposterous. So my bill will create an independent Office of Public
Integrity under the Inspector General to investigate members of Congress.
In my view, the clubby atmosphere that now exists in the House of Representatives
must come to an end. There will be independent investigations of wrong-doing ---
and violations will be referred to the U. S. Department of Justice.
And what should happen to those who are criminally convicted?
Under the bill Mr. Tiberi supports, they would lose only what the government
contributes to their pensions ---and their spouses could still receive benefits. But since
everyone knows that spouses share benefits with each other, Mr. Tiberi's bill actually
provides no penalty at all.
Under my bill, lawmakers convicted of a felony related to their official duties will
lose their Congressional pension. All of it. Every last dime. Period.
I have put everything I have talked about today in writing. I have signed this pledge
----and I am leaving a copy at Mr. Tiberi's office this morning.
I am asking him to sign it as well. If he does not, I hope the news media and 12th
District voters will ask him to explain why.
It's time to drain the ethical swamp in Washington. It's time to bring honor and
honesty back to our government. And it's time to finally hold Congress accountable
to the people who elected them and who pay their salaries.
We should do this not because it's an election year. We should do this simply
because it's the right thing to do.