That's a serious question. And it's not meant to impugn anyone's intelligence or integrity. The plain fact is that sometimes, you'd be surprised what you know about that your Represenative or your Senators don't. To be sure, they'll sometimes amaze you with their knowledge of legislative arcana. But the truth is that the schedule of a legislator is tight, and casual perusal of the blogs just isn't something they often have time for. Which means that if you've been reading (here or elsewhere) about the looming crisis in enforcement of the Congressional subpoena power, and have thereby gained an understanding of the "inherent contempt" process, you may actually know considerably more about it than your representatives in Congress. The same is true of much of what passes for common knowledge among blog readers. But we'll let that stuff be someone else's problem for the time being.
For now, I'd like to pass on a suggestion that I got from a fellow kossack (who may or may not want to be named) at the recent DC Yearly Kos fundraiser. Having struck up a conversation with one of the lawmakers in attendance, this kossack was surprised to find that the legislator he was talking with had not yet heard the story of Regent University's role in the scandals unfolding in the Department of Justice. We talked about it afterward and generally agreed that as knowledgeable and talented as our Congresspeople were, we couldn't expect them to know everything we were talking about.
More than that, we generally agreed that it was incumbent upon us to see that the things that were really weighing on our minds didn't slip through the cracks because we thought our Congresspeople already knew. And it seems that inherent contempt might just be one of those kinds of issues.
There have got to be more Members who know about the process that we just haven't heard from yet. But so far, the only Member of Congress I know who's been thinking anything other than "we'll take 'em to court" when the Bush "administration" defies Congressional subpoenas is Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina. As chairman of the Investigations and Oversight subcommittee of the Science and Technology panel, he's run into "administration" intransigence that's just as brazen and stunning as any of the high-profile situations we're witnessing at Judiciary and Government Oversight, but without the "sexiness" of involving the "A-list" cabinet members. He's been working quietly, behind the scenes to make his colleagues aware of his read on the situation, but it's an uphill battle. Everyone's busy, and everyone's freaking out. But not everyone is convinced, as both of us are, that the courts are not likely to clarify the situation for us, at least not in time to actually do anything about it.
I don't know if there are any regular discussions ongoing inside the Democratic Caucus involving the chairs and top staffers of investigative committees and subcommittees, but there ought to be. There's every indication that the "administration" is equally truculent on every invetstigative front, and there are several. Similarly, there are numerous oversight subcommittees -- most committees have one -- and their chairs are doubtless encountering the same problems. There's no reason they ought to be confronting them in isolation, nor ought they to be regarded as isolated incidents. With this "administration," stonewalling is policy.
So, what to do? I'm inclined to go with the old stand-by: write your Members of Congress. Study up a bit on what happens when the subpoenas are defied. Learn about inherent contempt. Then drop a friendly line to your Members of Congress, expressing your support for the investigations the Congress is conducting, and urging them to think ahead and game out the "administration's" refusal to acknowledge the legislature's power as a co-equal branch. Let them know that when push comes to shove, you'd support enforcing that power through the inherent contempt procedure, and ask them if they're aware of it.
Sure, we'll get non-committal responses drafted by staff. But that doesn't mean there's no consideration for our communications going on inside the office. When Members get multiple letters, faxes and emails on the same subject -- even just a few -- it raises some notice among the staff. That's the way the system is designed. And when they several letters raising something that's otherwise as obscure as inherent contempt, you'll definitely be raising eyebrows.
You'd be surprised how easy it is to overlook the arcana in an atmosphere as supercharged with drama as the current Congress is. And there are literally dozens of Members whose committee and subcommittee assignments will deal directly with issues of oversight, and who will be experiencing these frustrations to some extent, but who still might not know about all the options available to them. We can help raise awareness, and for everyone's sake, we should.
Below the fold: House side Democrats with committee assignments involving investigations and oversight of the executive branch.
House Agriculture Committee, Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry:
Joe Baca, Chairman (CA)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Nick Lampson (TX)
Steve Kagen (WI)
Nancy E. Boyda (KS)
House Armed Services Committee, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee:
Marty Meehan, Chairman (MA)
John Spratt (SC)
Vic Snyder (AR)
Loretta Sanchez (CA)
Ellen O. Tauscher (CA)
Robert Andrews (NJ)
Susan A. Davis (CA)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Joe Sestak (PA)
House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations:
Bart Stupak, Chairman (MI)
Diane DeGette (CO)
Charlie Melancon (LA)
Henry Waxman (CA)
Gene Green (TX)
Mike Doyle (PA)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
Jay Inslee (WA)
John Dingell, Full Committee Chairman, ex officio (MI)
House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations:
Mel Watt, Chairman (NC)
Luis Gutierrez (IL)
Maxine Waters (CA)
Stephen Lynch (MA)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO)
Nydia Velasquez (NY)
Michael Capuano (MA)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY)
Ron Klein (FL)
Tim Mahoney (FL)
Robert Wexler (FL)
House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight:
Bill Delahunt, Chairman (MA)
Russ Carnahan (MO)
Donald Payne (NJ)
Gregory Meeks (NY)
Joseph Crowley (NY)
House Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight:
Christopher P. Carney, Chairman (PA)
Peter DeFazio (OR)
Yvette Clark (NY)
Ed Perlmutter (CO)
Bennie Thompson, Full Committee Chairman, ex officio (MS)
House Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight:
Brad Miller, Chairman (NC)
Jerry Costello (IL)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)
Darlene Hooley (OR)
Steven Rothman (NJ)
Brian Baird (WA)
Bart Gordon, Full Committee Chairman, ex officio (TN)
House Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight:
Jason Altmire, Chairman (PA)
The late Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA)
Charlie Gonzales (TX)
Raul Grijalva (AZ)
House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations:
Bob Filner, Chairman (CA)
Harry E. Mitchell (AZ)
Zach Space (OH)
Timothy Walz (MN)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX)
House Ways & Means Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight:
John Lewis, Chairman (GA)
John Tanner (TN)
Richard Neal (MA)
Xavier Becerra (CA)
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH)
Ron Kind (WI)
Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ)
Joseph Crowley (NY)
House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations:
Robert E. (Bud) Cramer, Jr., Chairman (AL)
Alcee Hastings (FL)
John Tierney (MA)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD)
Silvestre Reyes, Full Committee Chairman, ex officio
(TX)
House Committee on the Judiciary:
John Conyers, Chairman (MI)
Howard Berman (CA)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Jerry Nadler (NY)
Bobby Scott (VA)
Mel Watt (NC)
Zoe Lofgren (CA)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX)
Maxine Waters (CA)
Marty Meehan (MA)
Bill Delahunt (MA)
Robert Wexler (FL)
Linda Sanchez (CA)
Steve Cohen (TN)
Hank Johnson (GA)
Luis Gutierrez (IL)
Brad Sherman (CA)
Anthony Weiner (NY)
Adam Schiff (CA)
Artur Davis (AL)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
Keith Ellison (MN)
Tammy Baldwin (WI)
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
Henry Waxman, Chairman (CA)
Tom Lantos (CA)
Edolphus Towns (NY)
Paul Kanjorski (PA)
Carolyn Maloney (NY)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Dennis Kucinich (OH)
Danny K. Davis (IL)
John Tierney (MA)
William Lacy Clay (MO)
Diane Watson (CA)
Stephen Lynch (MA)
Brian Higgins (NY)
John Yarmuth (KY)
Bruce Braley (IA)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Betty McCollum (MN)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Chris Van Hollen (MD)
Paul Hodes (NH)
Christopher Murphy (CT)
John Sarbanes (MD)
Peter Welch (VT)
