Say It With Me . . .
Weren't The Swamps Supposed To Be Drained?
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Democrats | Featured Stories — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
"Culture of corruption." (Psst: There is more below the fold!)
Eager to shore up their fragile House and Senate majorities, congressional Democrats have enlisted their committee chairmen in an early blitz to bring millions of dollars into the party's coffers, culminating in a late-March event featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 10 of the powerful panel chairs.
In the next 10 days alone, Democratic fundraisers will feature the chairmen of the House's financial services panel and the House and Senate tax-writing committees. Senate Democrats also plan a fundraising reception during a major gathering of Native Americans in the capital Tuesday evening, an event hosted by lobbyists and the political action committee for tribal casinos, including those Jack Abramoff was paid to represent.
Critics deride the aggressive fundraising push as the kind of business as usual that voters rejected at the ballot box last November -- particularly the practice of giving interest groups access to committee chairmen in exchange for sizable donations -- but Democrats are unapologetic.
"Financial services companies are inclined to give to me because I'm chairman of the committee important to their interests," said Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, who will headline a breakfast Wednesday at a D.C. hotel, for which donations range from $1,000 to $15,000 for the Democratic National Committee. "I'm fundraising to give to others so I can help stay in the majority and do the public policy things I want."
Asked whether banking interests feel obligated to give to Democrats when he asks them for contributions, Frank answered: "Obligated? No. Incentivized? Yes." Frank said, however, that those donating "understand, and others do, too, that there are no guarantees of my doing what they want, or even my being pleasant."
"I'm getting a lot of fundraising invitations," said Robert E. Juliano, a Democratic lobbyist. "It's no different than any other year."
So, it appears that we have another "K Street Project" going here. Just out of curiosity, if the old one was so bad, why is this one acceptable?
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Say It With Me . . . 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
"...why is this one acceptable?"
Because the "New Direction" means just that, literally.
Special interest money and influence will continue to flow unabated, only now it flows in a "New Direction."
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“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan
it's only a question of how much and how bad. A party that could sit back and wink at Bill Clinton renting out the White House and sending his flacks overseas searching for foreign money naturally finds corruption desirable.
The voters, the ones who find thought bothersome, were suckered and will continue to be suckered.
But the Dems corruption is at the least matched by the corruption and blind eye of our watchdogs of democracy, the media. They do seem to have tunnel vision, right Evan Thomas?
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
are in charge.
And democrats are not held to the same standard republicans are-they arent even expected to keep their promises.