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Attention, class. Once again we have congress to thank for teaching you kindergartners a lesson in moral behavior. The lesson is this, children: If you’ve been caught doing something naughty, the right thing to do is to deflect criticism from yourself by issuing a naughtiness reform package and scolding others for their bad behavior.
Our ethics instructor in this case is Rick Santorum, a far-right wing senator from Pennsylvania. Rick has been caught leading a political effort in Washington to pass the agenda of corporate lobbyists in exchange for them delivering the bulk of their clients’ campaign contributions to Republicans. He has held weekly, closed-door meetings with top lobbyists to engage in this crass, quid pro quo corruption.
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The insider deal between the corporate powers and the Republicans was given the code name of “The K-Street Project.” Guess who else was involved with Rick in running it? The GOP’s former majority leader, Tom DeLay, now known as “Captain Corrupt,” and supersleaze lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pled guilty to paying off several congress critters for legislative favors they did for his clients.
So Santorum, who is now in a difficult race for re-election, has dressed himself up as the born-again Caped Crusader for Congressional Ethics Reform! Incredibly, this poster child of the naughty entanglement of congress and K street is demanding moral purity from others and, like a street preacher, loudly touting political redemption through a legislative package to restrict the influence that those bad ol’ lobbyists have on lawmakers. Curiously, when Democrats proposed this same reform package last year, Santorum showed no interest in it at all.
This is Jim Hightower saying… Did I mention that Rick the Reformer also happens to have received more campaign money from lobbyists in this election cycle than any other member of congress?
Sources:
“Lobby curbs gain steam,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, January 18, 2006.
“Lobbyists can buy lawmakers’ attention,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, January 18, 2006.