Time to clean House

In 1994, idealistic Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, promising to clean up Democrat corruption and fulfill their own widely-publicized "Contract with America."

12 years later, the postmortem on the effort can be summarized in these words from a promotion of a candid new book by Sen. Tom Coburn--one of the idealistic congressmen swept into office in 1994:

Coburn started his career in Congress as part of the much-vaunted Class of '94, the new slate of GOP freshman ushered into office as a reaction against President Clinton's expansionist schemes and led by Speaker Newt Gingrich in a revolution that promised to flip Washington on its head.

But instead of completing the revolution, the Potomac's Bastille was only stormed, never taken. The revolution fizzled long before the job was done.

Through shocking behind-the-scenes stories, Coburn documents the rise and fall of the Republican Revolution and explains that it failed to live up to its promises mainly because elected representatives put politics and their own reelection bids ahead of principles. (emphasis added).

The promotion--written by editors at WorldNetDaily--offered the following illustration from Coburn's book of typical GOP corruption:

[Coburn] tells of one meeting with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., in which Coburn urged the two highest-ranking Republicans to hem in federal spending in the upcoming budget debates. Lott wasn't impressed by the plea to take his job or the law seriously.

Recalls Coburn, "Lott looked at me, rested his chin on his hand, and said in his Mississippi baritone drawl, 'Well, I've got an election coming up in 2000. After that we can have good government.'" (emphasis added)

It is this careerism in Washington--this overriding concern with staying in the game of politics rather than serving the people with principle-- that is the root of budget deficits and out-of-control government expansion. (emphasis added)

As the GOP continues to reel from the influence-peddling scandal involving Washington power-broker Jack Abramoff and his cozy relationship with former House Speaker Tom DeLay (who resigned Jan. 7), many Republican House members are calling for a return to the ideals of their party--in the hope of salvaging the mid-term elections, which threaten to return Democrats to control of Congress.

On Jan. 10, the Financial Times reported that "with Republicans embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that could threaten their control of Congress, the biggest pressure for reform is coming from [House] lawmakers who charge that the party's woes have come from abandoning its core conservative principles."

The article cites Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) as saying, "We don't just need a new majority leader, we need a course correction" (emphasis added).

While the Republicans captured the House of Representatives in 1994 following a popular backlash against perceived corruption in the Democratic party, the party's conservative critics say it has now fallen prey to the same Washington culture.

A group of more than 100 members organized as the Republican Study Committee is hoping to use the leadership race to rein in what they see as runaway government spending championed by Mr. DeLay and his allies. (emphasis added)

Among the corrupt practices rampant under GOP leadership in Congress is something called "earmarking." Earmarking involves secretly inserting millions or billions of dollars in big spending bills in order to enrich businesses that contribute to congressmen's campaigns.

According to the Financial Times, "While the practice is not new, it has mushroomed since Republicans captured Congress. Last year 15,000 earmarks were added into various spending bills."

Currently, three House members are vying to replace DeLay as House Majority Leader in an election slated for Thursday. They are acting majority leader Roy Blunt (R.-MO), Education & Workforce Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), and conservative favorite John Shadegg (R-AZ).

Rep. Shadegg has been endorsed by Rep. Mike Pense, who chairs of the hundred-member Republican Study Committee.

Rep. Blunt--a longtime House leader generally perceived as representing the status quo--is known as "an unapologetic champion of earmarks," according to Rep. Flake.

Congressman Boehner appears to be running interference for Shadegg (or perhaps it's the other way around)--as the two evidently plan to gang up on Blunt, who claims to have all the votes needed to win on the first ballot.

Should Blunt fail on the first ballot (as many insiders predict, since the balloting is secret and prior commitments can easily be broken), the third-place candidate is expected to endorse the second-place contender--in order to keep Blunt, a close lieutenant of DeLay, out of the picture and elect a reform-minded congressman as majority leader.

Shadegg is championed by conservatives for his clean record and unquestioned commitment to Republican principles. Conservatives are lukewarm to Boehner, even though he is known for shunning "earmarking" (and was a 90's protégé of Newt Gingrich). Boehner is perceived as too attached to the current leadership and to "K Street lobbyists," and is weak on stemming illegal immigration.

"The Republican Party is at a crossroads right now. And that crossroads is where we are going to have to reform ourselves before the voters do it this fall" (emphasis added).

Congressman Shadegg has declared, "We need a clean break from the past. We need someone who has no baggage going back to K Street or past practices."

Similarly, four House members--two moderates and two conservatives--have circulated a letter to their GOP colleagues, encouraging them to vote for change:

"We must realize that the majority we have all worked so hard for is in jeopardy," the letter says.

In the spirit of thoroughgoing reform, Alan Keyes, in a piece published Saturday by WorldNetDaily, has called for an immediate "clean slate" of the House leadership.

This would include all major leadership positions currently held by GOP Congressmen--not just majority leader.

The piece by Dr. Keyes, titled "Time for a return to Republican principle," argues that

The Republican Party needs to hold open elections at once for all of its congressional leadership positions if it is to successfully shed the stain of corruption and be seen as fit to govern America. (emphasis added)

Doing so, under House rules, requires a petition signed by 50 members of Congress, Keyes notes.

Keyes encourages all concerned Americans to lobby their elected representatives in Congress and get just such a petition and wide-open election.

Declaring that "the GOP, in countless areas of principle and practice, has lost its way," Keyes observes:

This crisis is not just about the taking of bribes or blatant influence peddling. Misapprehensions about the limits of government and misuse of government power run rampant at every level of government.

Leading public servants entrusted to safeguard our nation seem to have forgotten who the American people are--the deeply decent and God-fearing sovereigns of a republic that has endured and prospered because it was dedicated to justice and human equality, not power and greed.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, these present scandals have happened on the incumbent leaders' watch. I believe the majority Republican Party has an obligation to rededicate itself to its platform, and honor the demands of concerned voters and their congressmen to clean out, or at least clean up, "the People's House."

In the next few days we the people can, and must, contact our representatives and demand this important first step of a "Clean Slate" election. It is high time for congressional leadership across-the-board to pledge restored allegiance to the Reagan Republican platform of clean, small, and responsible self-government, and to dispel the widespread perception that the GOP is running the country to the tune of K Street lobbyists--at the expense of the sovereign American people and the common good.

Let us as conservatives endorse the congressional calls for all sitting House leaders to step down and embrace a full and open election for new Republican leadership. Let these positions be filled with those who publicly pledge their conviction and energy in respect to their duty to the nation, not their personal or partisan ambitions. Furthermore, let them publicly re-dedicate themselves to the conservative agenda that brought the GOP into majority leadership in the first place. (emphasis added)

Republicans can retain their governing majority only if they re-earn the trust of their core conservative base and address the concerns of the Reagan Democrats and other decent Americans who have supported the GOP in its agenda. This means a restored respect for limited government--[based on] a renewed allegiance to our American creed, the Declaration of Independence, and all our Constitution's protections of freedom.

Voters have endorsed the GOP's professed positions supporting traditional values, fiscal responsibility, and all the dutiful requirements of liberty. The Republican Party must now follow through. (emphasis added)

What we need is term limits across the board and aggregate term limits as well.

I hate to say it's hopeless but the Republican Party is no longer the party of Alan Keyes or Ronald Reagan, for that matter. It's become the party of Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chaffee, John McCain, Rudy Guiliani, George Pataki, George Voinovich, and the hundreds of little RINO's controlling state committees throughout the country. Sure, conservatives control many local precinct and county committees but that's all. The power is in the hands of the Rino's and will probably stay that way.

"Recalls Coburn, "Lott looked at me, rested his chin on his hand, and said in his Mississippi baritone drawl, 'Well, I've got an election coming up in 2000. After that we can have good government.'"

~~~

Oklahoma Ping!

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WingNutDaily + Dr. Keyes = moonbat (this should go far even if it made sense.)

Time to reclaim the glorious civil rights history of the Republican Party.

7 posted on 01/30/2006 9:51:54 PM PST by tkathy (Ban the headscarf (http://bloodlesslinchpinsofislamicterrorism.blogspot.com))

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