April 27, 2005

INDUSTRY STANDARDS:

Ethics war feared in wake of DeLay controversy: Congressmen scramble to correct omissions, 'clerical errors.' (The Washington Post, 4/26/05)

Members of Congress are rushing to amend their travel and campaign records, fearing that the controversy over House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will trigger an ethics war that will bring greater scrutiny to their own travel and official activities.

Some offices have sharply limited staff travel, and some members are not traveling at all because of the intense review they believe they will face in coming months.

Lawmakers are paying old restaurant bills, filing missing forms and correcting erroneous ones as journalists and political opponents comb through records and DeLay, R-Texas, attempts to answer questions about travel financing and his past relationships with lobbyists.


No, no, no, we meant scrutinize him, not us.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Comments

Could you even conceive of a better story about glass houses and rock throwing?

Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at April 27, 2005 9:28 AM

Y'd think by now the Dems, based on their own experiences and the GOP's in the Clinton years, would realize that the collateral damage in these search-and-destroy missions is always worse than that inflicted on the target(s).

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at April 27, 2005 11:42 AM

And with over 5400 paid-by-others trips taken by over 600 current and former members of Congress (as reported in USA Today) in the past few years, there are a lot of targets, intended or not.

And no matter how hard the Democrats try, if public ire begins to rise, it will hurt the Dems more. Harold Ford took the most tips (63), and 57% of the total trips were taken by Democrats.

Posted by: jim hamlen at April 27, 2005 12:46 PM

Mr. Ortega;

I think root cause here is that the Dems have still not adjusted to the new world where they don't own the media. Back during the Clinton era, Donkey scandals were buried so the only significant collateral damage was to the GOP. The point is that in the past, it wasn't unreasonable to do this kind of pot stirring because the Dems could count on it sticking mostly to the GOP.

Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at April 27, 2005 5:01 PM
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