When Newsweek Critisizes Democrats You Know It's Bad

Things must be bad for the Democrats if Newsweek goes out and publishes an article about the hypocrisy of their “ethics” in comparison to the Bush administration:

Nancy Pelosi likes to brag that she’s “drained the swamp” when it comes to corruption in the House, but ethics problems could come back to haunt Democrats in 2010. Democrats are currently the subject of 12 of the 16 complaints pending before the House ethics committee. Two of the lawmakers under scrutiny—Reps. Jack Murtha and Charlie Rangel—have close ties to Pelosi, who has come under criticism for not asking them to resign their committee posts. Murtha, chairman of a key defense-appropriations subcommittee, is is not formally under investigation but the ethics committee is reviewing political contributions he and other House lawmakers received from  lobbying firm whose clients received millions of dollars in Defense earmarks. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is facing scrutiny for not fully disclosing assets. The ethics committee is also looking into ties between Rangel and a developer who leased rent-controlled apartments to the congressman, and whether Rangel improperly used his House office to raise funds for a public policy institute in his name. Rangel and Murtha deny any wrongdoing. (Another lawmaker under investigation: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who, according to the committee, “may have offered to raise funds” for then–Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the president’s Senate seat—a charge Jackson denies. The panel deferred its probe at the request of the Justice Department, which is conducting its own inquiry.)

But watchdog groups, not to mention Republicans, are calling Pelosi hypocritical since Democrats won back control of the House by, in part, trashing the GOP’s ethics lapses.

Pelosi “promised to run the most ethical Congress in history,” says Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, “and instead of cracking down on corruption, she promotes it.” Daly responds, “Since Democrats took control of Congress, we have strengthened the ethics process.”

Democrats are the subject of 12 of 16 ethics complaints… when did you last read about those 12?  Some recent stories about the House Ethics Committee and Democrats:

On April 22, 2009:

California Rep. Jane Harman denied allegations that she offered to help seek reduced charges for two pro-Israel lobbyists suspected of espionage in exchange for help from a pro-Israel donor, also suspected Israeli agent, in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give Harman a key chairmanship.

And California Sen. Dianne Feinstein denied that she devised legislation that helped her husband get a federal contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.

But the latest cases, which involve Democrats, did not make the same splash that corruption allegations did a few years ago, when Republicans were on the receiving end of the finger-pointing.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, created by a House resolution on March , 11, 2008, also won’t take up the Harman investigation, according to Roll Call, because the OCE rules prevent it from looking at any cases that arose before its creation.

Feinstein defended herself Wednesday by pointing out that her legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that reportedly awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract never was enacted into law.

On May 12, 2009:

House Democrats on Tuesday stopped a Republican plan to force a campaign finance inquiry that likely would have investigated several influential Democrats. It was the eighth time since late February that the Republican move was halted.

On July 31, 2009:

Members of the House ethics committee, who are investigating a pattern of lawmakers steering federal funds to generous defense contractors, have just had their own pet military projects approved by the same committee whose activities they are probing.

On September 3, 2009:

There may be a reason for Rangel’s arrogance. CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.

On September 10, 2009:

Pelosi has said she will take no action against Rangel or any other member unless the ethics committee recommends punishment or a prosecutor brings criminal charges.

As minority leader, Pelosi did not wait until formal charges were filed against then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.). But after an FBI investigation reportedly turned up $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer and triggered concern from some House Democrats about the upcoming 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi removed Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee. Jefferson was indicted on corruptions charges in 2007 and convicted this year.

On September 17, 2009:

Reporting from Washington – The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who has come under scrutiny because of her husband’s ties to a bank that received federal bailout funds.

Have these issues had the press they deserve?  No.  Why?  Because Democrats are running the show, that’s why.

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