I am undecided.
Eight folks are running to be Democratic nominee in 2008. Maybe there will be more, or maybe this is it. Who knows?
Four years ago I was not undecided. I was fully behind Howard Dean. I opened up my wallet, my heart, my calendar and my passion to help Dean win the nomination in 2004. I went to Iowa. I knocked on doors in very cold weather. I believed. I was in the room when we celebrated the disappointing results and pledged to carry on to New Hampshire. We were making so much noise that I could not hear Howard’s famous "scream".
We have a fine field, but none of them inspire me. I’m waiting. I’m waiting to hear something new—something that will change the political system. I want to get involved, but virtually all of them are silent on what I consider to be the core issue:
The Corruption of our Government.
I have been researching and writing about the Culture of Corruption for a long time. As I said recently: It’s The Corruption, Stupid.
So, jump with me to explore the Democratic Corruption Primary...
Before I begin, I want to offer a disclaimer:
Come November 2008, I will be supporting the Democrat running for President. Period.
Any of the current eight Candidates are better than any Republican in the field. (To tell the truth, my 13 year old blue tick coonhound would be a better choice than anything the GOP has to offer). Whoever wins the Nomination will have my support for the General election.
I will do whatever I can to see a Democrat in the White House and increased majorities in the House and the Senate. Period.
Still, I also hope that I do not have to hold my nose while voting for the top of the ticket.
I have been focused on the issue of corruption and the Jack Abramoff Scandal for some time now. I have come to see the issue of corruption as the fundamental cancer on our Democracy. It must be eradicated.
Corruption was a tipping point issue in the 2006 midterms. According to CBS News exit polls 74% of all voters identified corruption as either extremely important or very important as they went to the polls. As the dust settled on the ruins of Karl Rove’s "math" he told Time Magazine what went wrong (emphasis added):
"The profile of corruption in the exit polls was bigger than I'd expected," Rove tells TIME. "Abramoff, lobbying, Foley and Haggard [the disgraced evangelical leader] added to the general distaste that people have for all things Washington, and it just reached critical mass." [snip]
The Republican National Committee has been pointing out that a small shift in votes would have made a big difference. A shift of 77,611 votes would have given Republicans control of the House, according to Bush's political team. And a shift of 2,847 votes in Montana, or 7,217 votes in Virginia, or 41,537 votes in Missouri would have given a Republicans control of the Senate. In addition, the party has calculated that the winner received 51 percent or less in 35 contests, and that 23 races were decided by two percentage points or fewer, 18 races were decided by fewer than 5,000 votes, 15 races were decided by fewer than 4,000 votes, 10 races were decided by fewer than 3,000 votes, eight were decided by fewer than 2,000 votes and five races were decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.
It was close. Voters knew that Republicans were corrupt. They decided to give Democrats a chance to prove that they are not.
The only issue that influenced more voters than corruption in the 2006 election may have been Iraq—and that war is a byproduct of the Culture of Corruption. Sometime a symptom of a disease is confused as the illness, but treatment must focus on the root cause.
And the sickness in our National Politics is corruption.
So, one might think that the Democrats running for the White House would be hip to the results of the 2006 election.
One might expect that each and every one would be talking about Iraq, Corruption and then, the other issues.
You might think that, but you would be wrong.
For most of the Democrats running for President, it is as if the Corruption in our Government does not exist. Almost none of them talk about it.
Since last fall, I have been paying attention and holding a Corruption Primary among the Democrats running to be Presidents. The results are disappointing.
Only one of the Candidates leads with ethics and lobbying reform as a key issue. Some of the others touch on some aspect of the issue, while ignoring the fundamental need for widespread reform. Most, do not even mention lobbying reform, ethics reform or corruption.
The results are even worse if you drill deeper into the Abramoff scandal.
All the Candidates are silent on the abuse on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and legislation to end it. Virtually all of them are silent on Jack Abramoff beyond the occasional punch line.
If the need for reform of lobbying, ethics, fundraising and the like are mentioned, it is usually in an unanswered Diary or comment to a Campaign blog.
I am under whelmed.
I want more. Hell, I demand more before I will get excited.
I would love to see one of the Candidates elevate the abuse on the CNMI to a campaign issue. I would love to see one of them talk about the current "cleansing" of long-time guest workers by the Pirates of Saipan in anticipation of reform. I would love to see a candidate speak out against this human rights abuse on US soil. I would love to see them speak out for justice and point to the Guest Worker system of the CNMI as a cautionary tale as the Mainland considers a "guest worker" program. I would love this, but it is not going to happen.
I would love to see the Democratic candidates zero in on how the Culture of Corruption is stealing land, resources and rights from Native Americans. I would love to hear a Candidate speak out about the crimes and prejudices directed towards the First inhabitants of this continent. I would love it, but it is not going to happen.
There are many issues I would like them to talk about, but I know they won’t.
Deep sigh...
Still, like most Americans, I do expect them to talk about Cleaning Up the Corruption in Washington. I expect them to talk about meaningful Lobbying Reform and Ethics Reforms for the House, Senate and Executive Branch. This is a large part of why Democrats won in 2006. And what we do now will help voters decide whether we are different or the same as the Republicans we replaced.
Effective Lobbying and ethics reform proposals are out there. They exist. Last year a coalition of good Government groups put out 6 Benchmarks for Lobbying Reform:
- Break the nexus between lobbyists, money and lawmakers.
- Prevent private interests from financing trips and from subsidizing travel for members of Congress and staff, and executive branch officials and federal judges.
- Ban gifts to members of Congress and staff.
- Oversee and enforce ethics rules and lobbying laws through an independent congressional Office of Public Integrity and increase penalties for violations.
- Slow the revolving door.
- Place sunshine on lobbying activities and financial disclosure reports.
It is a solid list to me and it laid out a great foundation for reform. I do not know why we have not passed this as a foundation for deeper reforms. I can only guess it is because the 110th Congress does not see this as a real priority. We need to change that.
To learn more about the issue (and what you can do), I would encourage you to visit the groups behind this coalition. They are:
These groups provide updates, alerts and good tracking information of the issue of reform.
It would be great if some of our Candidates for President would embrace these ideas, but sadly, most of the Democratic Candidates are ignoring this issue.
When I say that they are ignoring the corruption/reform issue, I hope that the supporters of this or that Candidate will comment on how their guy or gal is really one of the good ones. I hope that I’ve just missed their dedication to the issue. Perhaps that will be the case.
Maybe they do support reform, but from a survey of the Candidate’s Web sites it would be impossible to tell. Whatever their stand is, it is hidden.
If your Candidate supports reform, it would be nice if they would talk about it. It would be nice if they would put the issue front and center. In 2006 corruption was a tipping point issue. We ignore that at our peril.
I’ve placed the Candidates into two tiers: The Top Three and Everybody Else. Perhaps this isn’t fair, but as an undecided voter, I want to see somebody pulling in double digit support before I can take them seriously. (The only exception would be if the Candidate inspired me to action, but none of these do that yet).
To rate these Candidates, I used two sources:
- Their Campaign and elected office Web sites
- My research into the Abramoff scandal and the Culture of Corruption.
Mostly, I looked at the way the Candidates were prioritizing and presenting the issues. To do this I looked at their Web sites. If I couldn’t find the issue of corruption/ethics/lobbying reform being discussed on their "issues" section I took it as a sign that the issue was not important to the Candidate. Even when I could not find evidence that a Candidate had a stand on reform, I still spent some time trying to dig deeper and if I found something, I made note of it in the results below.
I regret to say that there are two Candidates running have ties to the Jack Abramoff scandal and the abuse on the CNMI. I wish it was not the case, but it is. Those two Candidates would really have to put justice for the CNMI workers on the National stage if they wished to earn my support. It could happen, especially is their supporters demand it.
So, here are my comments on how the Democrats running to be President stack up in the Corruption Pirmary:
The Top Three
We all know that this is Clinton, Obama and Edwards. Of the three, only Barack Obama is leading with cleaning up the Culture of Corruption as one of his core issues.
Here is what I found...
Hillary Clinton
Her Web site lists Comprehensive Government Reform as one her issues, but what that means is vague. Lobbying reform, Ethics reform and Abramoff are not mentioned at all. I did find a a 4-13-07 speech on the Web site about Government Reform. It lays out her ten point plan for reform and while the speech mentioned Abramoff, her proposed lobbying reforms would only impact Cabinet officers—not staff and not elected officials in all branches of the government. It is a far cry from what is needed.
Part of that may be due to her overwhelming lead with donations from lobbyists and her Campaign’s dependence on bundling donations.
Worse than that, is her connection to Jack Abramoff and the abuse on the CNMI. I have written about $10,000 in donations to Hillary from the sweatshops owning Tan Family of Hong Kong and Saipan. I have tried for more than 14 months to get her campaign to pay attention to this dirty money, including placing the details into Terry McAuliffe’s hands.
If you are a supporter of Hillary’s, then maybe you will have better luck than I have had in trying to encourage her to do the right thing and give back the money or donate it to abused workers like Buddhi Lal Dhimal.
I so wish that she would do the right thing and I’m so disappointed that only $10,000 of sweatshop cash seems to be holding her back.
It is sad.
Barack Obama
Obama is the only candidate who leads with corruption reform as a core issue. He lists Cleaning Up Washington as one of his top priorities. It is easy to find on his Web Page (I found it called out on the home page). He has also been introducing legislation, such as those detailed on his Ethics and Lobbying Reform section of his Senate Web site. In the 4-27-07 Debate he was the only candidate to even mention lobbying and ethics reform.
If another Candidate has a stronger stance on Corruption Reform than Obama, I would like to know about it. And if it is true, I would like to know why they are hiding that information from the voters.
John Edwards
He may or may not have a stand on corruption, ethics reform and lobbying reform. It is hard to tell. The issue of reform is missing from his list of issues. Now, some diaries on the Edwards Blog mention Abramoff and reform, but the campaign seems to be silent on the issue.
I can only assume that this issue is not that important to his campaign. I hope that I am wrong.
Does anybody know where he stands and why he isn’t talking about it?
Everybody Else
I offer my humble apologies to supporters of these Candidates for this second tier ranking. I group them here as they all have support in single digits (or less) and I do not think any of them will break through, but I could be wrong.
As for the Corruption Primary they all mirror one of the Candidates in the top three. This is not a good thing...
Joe Biden
Like Edwards, Biden does not mention reform in his list of issues. And like Hillary, he has ties to the CNMI and the Abramoff scandal. His grandson, Hunter Biden, is a lobbyist for the CNMI.
I do not see Biden as a leader on the reform issue and that makes me glad to see him in single digits.
Chris Dodd
He is yet another one where the issue of reform is missing from his list of issues. Dodd is a fine Senator. I do not know why he is in this race. I also do not know where he stands on cleaning up the Culture of Corruption and reform.
If you know, please share the details.
Mike Gravel
Gravel has a long list of issues on his Web site, butreform is is not one of them.
I have no idea what he thinks of the issue. Do you?
Dennis Kucinich
While Obama leads with the issue of reform, Kucinich is not far behind. He does not mention reform as one of his top ten priorities, but his issue page contains a number of sub-issues related to reform. For example, he has a position on Campaign Financing and has even put out a position paper on ending sweatshops. Some of his policy ideas are questionable and a comprehensive reform agenda is missing, but still he is moving the debate in the right direction.
Kucinich is a good voice to have in the congress, but like some of the other candidates, I am not sure why he is running for President or where he really stands on Cleaning up the corruption in Washington.
Bill Richardson
I am disappointed in Richardson. I had high hopes for him but his campaign is stuck. His list of issues does not include reform, unless you count his mislabeling the problem in Washington as Partisanship. That’s Old School in a bad way.
He has a lot to offer and some great ideas, but so far he seems to be holding them in reserve. So it goes.
Time for another deep sigh...
In this first round, the results of the Corruption Primary for the Democrats is a disappointment.
If you listen to most of them, you would conclude that corruption is not an important issue. You would get no sense that it was the wedge issue that pealed away Republicans and Independent voters in 2006 and had them voting for Democrats. That same dynamic will be in play in 2008. A Candidate who can see over the horizon would know that already. He or she would already be working the issue.
It would be part of their stump speech. It would be easily found on their Web site. They would talk about it. They would work on it. Those in Congress would sponsor legislation and work to get is passed. They would force other Democrats, the Media and Republicans to take a stand on the issue.
So far, the only one who comes close to doing any of that is Barack Obama.
Now, I could be wrong on where the other Candidates stand, because they are not talking about the reform issue. I will read the comments. I’ll look for more details. If Edwards has a position on Cleaning up Washington, I would like to know—same with the rest of them.
And those like Clinton and Biden, who have ties to the corruption on the CNMI, I wish they would take a lead on supporting legislation to end the abuse that has been allowed to flourish for more than 25 years.
And we all need to make some noise. Without pressure from their constituents and the netroots, our elected officials will water down or forget about ending corruption, ethics reform and lobbying reform. We need to keep the heat turned up. We should make corruption as much of a "must deal with this" issue as the War in Iraq has become.
We need to remind every Democrat that:
It’s The Corruption, Stupid
Several bills are in play. The House bill on lobbying ethics is HR 2316. The bill addressing bundled donations is HR 2317. The Senate will vote on the issue soon and they need to hear from us.
It is pressure time.
Demand real lobbying reform. Demand an end to business as usual. The Culture of Corruption is a Republican thing. It has no place among Democrats. Those who seek to protect corruption need to hear from us. They need to feel some heat.
The corruption of politics is at the heart of everything George W. Bush has done. It is why we are in Iraq. It is why Bush is destroying everything he touches. And we will not be able to stop Bush unless we get serious about confronting corruption.
We need to demand that our Presidential Candidates support reform. They should lead.
So far they are unimpressive on this issue—even Obama. And sadly, some of them seem to be oblivious to the need for reform. Senator Clinton comes to mind. She has allowed her campaign to be tied to Jack Abramoff and the money behind his scandals. We should demand she returns the Abramoff connected sweatshop cash in her campaign coffers.
If we back away from corruption we will lose in 2008. This is a tipping point issue and it needs to be front and center.
Without taking on Corruption, we will never this Country back.
You can not understand the modern Republican Party or the George W. Bush era with understanding the role of corruption. It is a by-product of their effort to establish One-Party-Rule in the United States. Every choice of this administration has been political. The goal is always to use any leverage to push their dream of One-Party-Rule.
This has to end. We have to clean up Washington.
Write about it and talk about it. Demand that ending corruption in our National politics becomes a core principle of the Democratic Party. If we do that we will win big in 2008.
Let’s push this hard.
Cheers!
UPDATE
On the basis of some thoughtful comments below, I have slightly changed the name of this Diary. There was some confusion that I was calling Democrats corrupt. I am not.
I wade into a "Primary Diary" with great hesitation. Supporters of candidates will read what they want to read and get into attack mode. I regret that some have responded to this Diary in that manner.
It is early in the Primary season. Many of us have not made up their minds on who to support. We have a great field. The issues that the Campaign will turn on are still being formed.
Corruption is an important issue that I feel should be on the table. From health care to Iraq and beyond, many of the problems we face have their roots in corruption. We need to weed it out. We need to prove that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans. The Presidential Candidates set the tone. If they talk about it, so will the media and the Republicans will be forced to defend their Culture of Corruption for another cycle.
I want us to think about the issue of corruption and demand answers. I want our Candidates to compete on this issue to see who has the best ideas. I want them to lead.
It is not too much to ask.
Cheers