For most politicians, getting into bed with lobbyists is only a metaphor. However, Nebraska's 2nd District Republican Congressman Lee Terry may have been caught trying to give the phrase a much more literal interpretation.
The New York Post reports:
Some Republican congressmen have been warned to keep their distance from the female lobbyists who prowl Capitol Hill. Sources say House Minority Leader John Boehner has told GOP congressmen who partied with lobbyists "to knock it off"....
GOP Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska -- who's in a tough race against Democratic opponent Tom White -- was witnessed by Page Six in close conversation with a comely lobbyist at the Capitol Hill Club in DC recently. "Why did you get me so drunk?" Terry asked the giggling woman, among other personal remarks. When Terry realized he was sitting near a reporter, he quickly changed the topic of conversation to his three children and the struggle to pay their college tuition.
After this unsuccessful and embarrassing flirtation, Terry has to be feeling pretty unlucky. He's one of the most endangered Republican incumbents in Congress, and it was only a little more than one year ago that another reporter just happened to catch him angrily shouting obscenity in Washington D.C. traffic. The bars and the streets are no longer safe for Terry's antics as his behavior is once again being called into question by a reporter who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Of course, this whole incident could be entirely innocent and have no bearing on Terry's family life. What I'm more concerned about is what this story has to say about who Terry represents and how he operates after six terms in Congress.
The sad truth is that Terry's been in bed with corporate and special interest lobbyists for a long, long time. No flirtation and no alcohol are required. In fact, their checkbooks have been the backbone of Terry's re-election campaigns. In his most recent campaign finance report, 63% of Terry's contributions - a whopping $171,913 - came from Political Action Committees that not-always-so-"comely" lobbyists are either writing checks for or writing checks to.
They're getting what they pay for. After 12 years in Congress, Terry can't claim a single significant legislative accomplishment, but he's offered unrivaled access and unquestioning loyalty to those keeping him afloat politically. You can see this in his recent votes against Wall Street reform and his reflexive opposition to any sort of corporate accountability. The clearest illustration has to be the revelation last fall that Terry had committed outright plagiarism of a lobbyist's remarks and entered them into the Congressional record. Not only did this plagiarism occur in the course of Terry's duties as an elected representative, it also followed his earlier criticism of 2008 Democratic challenger Jim Esch for a similar but far less serious offense.
Besides some suggestion of hypocrisy in Terry's presenting himself as a "family values" candidate, I'm not very concerned about Terry's personal life. It's who he's in bed with politically that is far more troubling.
Frankly, Terry's relationship with lobbyists has always been more than a flirtation. It's time for Nebraska voters to break the hearts of Wall Street bankers and corporate lobbyists. We can do that by sending a real representative to Congress - Omaha State Senator Tom White.