Abramoff Scandal Forces Republican Reversal on New Ethics Laws

[Judi Lynn]

Abramoff Scandal Forces Republican Reversal on New Ethics Laws
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Representative David Dreier once tried to torpedo an effort to limit corporate political donations. He voted to allow charities to fly lawmakers to their events and to let Republicans keep their leadership posts even if indicted.

Now, the California lawmaker has been tapped by Republicans in the House of Representatives as the leader of a move to strengthen lobbying and ethics laws amid the scandal involving Jack Abramoff. Dreier's record, and those of other Republican leaders, illustrates why the party may struggle to convince voters it's serious about overhauling the money-in-politics system.

Congressional Republicans are standing against their own history of embracing lobbyists and relaxing ethics rules since they took control of Congress in 1995, some lawmakers and analysts say.

``We don't have a good track record,'' said Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican and co-author of the 2002 law banning unlimited corporate, union and individual donations to the political parties that Dreier tried to stop.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=audoIi_YSaz0&refer=us



David Dreier, Bo Derek

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2073809