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December 19, 2008

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Democrats Are The New Ethics Story

Topics: Political News and commentaries
Rather mistitled, I would say. It's quite more like the Dems being the "New Non-Ethics Story":

[...] Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to drain when she led her party to victory in 2006. The GOP had been rocked by scandal, and Mrs. Pelosi and Democrats won, in part, by promising to clean up the "culture of corruption" that pervaded Washington.

Instead, Democrats now have an image problem.The real issue isn't so much Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Senate-seat auction, as it is the focus that his scandal has directed toward a wider assortment of Democratic troubles. This isn't great timing for Barack Obama, who campaigned on cleaner government.

The Blagojevich drama is titillating enough, and local Democrats' dithering over how to fill Mr. Obama's seat guarantees it will remain a storyline longer than is comfortable. But the Illinois drama has also thrust new light on the ongoing ethical controversies of House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel. At the rate the House Ethics Committee is receiving complaints -- over Mr. Rangel's real-estate problems, tax problems, his privately sponsored trips to the Caribbean, and donations to his center in New York -- this too will make headlines for a while.

... The Chicago Tribune published a new story about Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who racked up $420,000 through a series of suspicious real-estate deals.

... One unfortunate side effect of Mr. Obama's long coattails was that they helped the party's more ethically challenged members get re-elected

Then there's Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who came under scrutiny this fall for questionable earmarking. West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan has been under investigation for a separate earmarking mess. And then there's Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who has yet to answer questions about the sweetheart mortgage deal he received from Countrywide." And let's not forget the one-man epitome of a politician with no ethics, the poster child for term limits - Charles Rangel.

And etc., etc., etc. .....

HT - Glenn Reynolds

Posted by Hyscience at December 19, 2008 8:21 AM

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