Abramoff, lobbying/campaining finance.....

[radfringe]

I'll probably get flamed for this... but what the hell....

We've all been following the Abramoff scandal, DeLay's doings, and the recent resignation by Cunningham for dirty dealings. Bribes, gifts and other corrupt practices through lobbying and special interests have pretty much destroyed our democracy.

Who can you trust, and will throwing the bums out in Nov. 2006 solve the problem?

At the moment - Senators and Representatives are racing to the doors to divest themselves of Abramoff's money. The House is looking to officially replace DeLay, and proposed legislation on campaign finance reform/lobbying practices has the congressional printing offices working overtime.

All this is for show. "Look! Look! I dumped the money and wrote some laws!" They are all jumping on the bandwagon.

But will we see any REAL REFORM or is it going to be window dressing for the re-(s)election campaigns?

Sadly, I think it's just going to be window-dressing. Lots of rhetoric, big speeches about how things need to be changed/reformed - but beyond that nothing of significance. The culture of corruption has deep roots and deep pockets.

ok flame away

[BuyingThyme]

1. I don't think we need reform on this one.

Just enforcement.

[radfringe]

2. well...

That's going to be one of the arguments against real reform when these new bills come up for debate..

I don't mean to be snarky - but when you have a corrupt group of legislators "enforcing" current rules/regs isn't that like the fox guarding the hen house? Can we really trust them to enforce/oversee their own dirty doings?

the other argument will be "free speech", i.e. placing curbs/limits on campain donations/lobbying will infringe on free speech. just my 2-cents - "free speech ain't free when you have to pay for it..."

[KharmaTrain]

3. Why Flame...You're Right

If Democrats attempt to win by default...waiting for the Repugnicans to fall, they won't win elections and any victory will be limited and short-lived. This scandal opens up a can of worms that the national Democrats don't want to deal with any more than the Repugnicans...the influence of corporations and big money on the political process. For some this is an extension of what they encountered on the county or state level, this is just a few more zeros.

It's a tangled web where money intertwines with friendships and careers and power and a real culture had developed...one originally based on some ideology but distorted and perverted by the need to raise cash and influence and be influenced.

Walt Starr wished that some Democrats would go down with the Abramoff scandal...and that might be the case. If so, I hope it's the "K-Street" Democrats...those who went into the lobbying and PR firms (many in conjunction with Repugnicans...thus the Abramoff connections) strictly to cash in on their contacts. These people serve themselves first and not either the party or those who we need to appeal to to build a strong, dominant majority party.

This scandal is a slippery-slope for many. I laughed at the token "give back" of money that was collected and spent years ago. The money made the money that was "given back" possible. It shows how reliant politicians are on any sources of money to fund ever-expensive campaigns and a high-flying lifestyle. To hear Tweety try to pooh-pooh DeLay's "this guy doesn't flaunt it" bullshit the other night was all but laughable, but shows the fear and ignorance of these people. They don't want us to pay attention to their dirty little world...and even worse, they don't want us demanding they clean it up.

Cheers...

[Toots]

4. Without Public Financing of Campaigns it will remain corrupt

As long as it is legal to give huge amounts of money to politicians there will be corruption. On both sides of the aisle I am afraid. We must demand that all elections are publically financed and the use of Public Airwaves for campaigning will be free. These are the Public's airwaves and for Networks to make hundreds of millions of dollars off our elections is in itself criminal. The Networks have a vested interest to stir up controversy and stifle real debate. We must Demand Public Financing of Elections and fair use of our airwaves.