As has already been covered on DKos, there was an NYT article over the weekend detailing how some Democrats might be considering backing off on ethics reforms. However, since I've only been able to find a small amount of analysis, I thought I'd add my two cents. In fact, I'd propose that we need to go as far as reasonably possible in tightening ethics rules.
Corruption, believe it or not, was an important issue in this past election, and it should be an important issue in every action that a lawmaker takes. The people, understandably, seem to be rather tired of government officials who use their powers not to protect and improve the general welfare of their constituents, but to ensure their own financial well-being (both while in office and once out of it) and their own chances of re-election. For the past several years, those who have been most obviously using their law-making powers for their own good have been Republicans. Let's not suppose, however, that Democrats can't fall (or haven't fallen) to the same temptations. That's not to say that the Democrats have, in recent memory, participated in corrupt systems, but we do need to be mindful of the dangers.
Hubris
The most dangerous temptation, in my estimation, is the risk of assuming that there is something inherent in being a Republican that makes one corrupt, and that somehow Democrats can avoid corruption by virtue of being Democrats. Under this view, those who are corrupt must not really be Democrats. They might be Democrats in name, but not real, pure Democrats. But we must remember that we are not virtuous because we are Democrats (although we might be Democrats because we are virtuous!), and we can succumb to the same temptations as Republicans.
A few quotes from the article illuminate this point:
“There is an understanding on our side that the Republicans paid a price for a lot of the abuses that evolved,” said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, alluding to earmarks.
Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, said the scandals of the current Congress were “about the K Street Project for the Republicans,” referring to the party’s initiative to put more Republicans in influential lobbying posts and build closer ties to them. “That was incestuous from the beginning. We never had anything like that,” Mr. Harkin said of Democrats. “That is what soured the whole thing.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of the Rules Committee, for example, said she was opposed to an independent Congressional ethics watchdog. “If the law is clear and precise, members will follow it,” she said in an interview. “As to whether we need to create a new federal bureaucracy to enforce the rules, I would hope not.”
The assumption in these quotes is that the scandals that plagued the Republican congress were Republican specific, and that Democrats will avoid these particular temptations, and will police themselves if the laws are clear (the last quote, from Pelosi, is also dangerous because of its inverse: if Democrats do not follow the rules, can we blame it not on the Democrats, but on the unclear and imprecise nature of those laws?).
Certainly, the Democrats may not fall to the specific earmark problems or lobbyist relationships that Republicans fell to. But, let's not pretend that Democrats don't have close relationships to lobbyists or an interest in earmarks. The temptations remain. Likewise, the Democrats are not innately more likely to follow rules than the Republicans. Even if the specific ways of breaking the rules aren't as likely, the temptation to find ways around them still exists.
To believe that we are not as able to fall to temptation is arrogant and proud, the very definition of hubris.
What Do We Do?
As Nancy Pelosi put it, the new Democratic Congress should be, “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.” One the one hand, being the most ethical Congress should be easy (it's not perceived as a very high benchmark). One the other hand, though, the Democratic party needs to be clear that ethical governance is part of our philosophy of government. Democrats do not govern for the sake of their own financial well-being, their own job-security, the maintenance of their own power. Democrats govern in order to empower the people. It is not enough to be the most ethical in history, we must place our benchmark higher: we must strive to govern as ethically as possible.
Some of my proposals are already included in the Democratic proposals, but here is the list of things I believe need to be done. I'm not going to flesh these out too much here, they're just here for discussion.
1. No Gifts from Lobbyists. By this I don't just mean no official gifts. If it looks like it might be a gift from a lobbyist, you don't take it.
2. Lobbyists Disclose all Contacts with Lawmakers and Vice Versa. Pretty self-explanatory I think, no secret meetings between lawmakers and lobbyists.
3. No Lobbyists in the Halls of Congress. Even if they used to be lawmakers. Lobbying happens outside of the government's buildings. While we're at it, a longer moratorium on lawmakers becoming lobbyists (really, I'd like to ban that altogether).
4. Open the Government. No closed meetings, no closed records unless it's an issue of national security, and there must be strict rules for what qualifies as a matter of national security.
5. Comprehensive Campaign Reform. Our campaign system is still imperfect (and, let's face it, probably always will be), but no lawmaker should be beholden to a large campaign contributor (or collection of large campaign contributors).
6. An Independent Body. Lawmakers should not be the ones deciding whether or not they've followed the rules. They can decide the punishment, but another body must exist to open and conduct investigations.
7. Zero Tolerance. If a Democrat breaks the rules, other Democrats go after them. We do not protect our own for the sake of protecting our own.
Any other suggestions?
Do I really think this will all happen? No. Lawmakers, even Democrats, are just as susceptible to the temptations of power as anyone else. But, if our idea of governing is government of, for, and by the people, then we must press for ethics rules that seek to guarantee that lawmakers act with such high ideals in mind.
There's also, of course, the risk that this will end up hurting the Democrats. Regulating 527's would do more damage to Democratic finances than Republican ones, for example. However, I firmly believe that if we stand up for the principles of good, ethical government, the people will reward that behavior.