Washington's Tangled Web Of Ethics
By Chuck Muth (04/25/05)
People in glass Houses of Representatives, shouldn't throw stones.
Congressional Democrats, desperate for relevancy, have resorted to what Hillary once famously called the "politics of personal destruction." They've latched onto an ethics charge against Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, involving a lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who allegedly paid the now-GOP Majority Leader's travel expenses for a trip to Russia a few years back. House rules prohibit registered lobbyists from picking up travel expenses for members of Congress.
This ethics grenade was thrown back into the Democrats' lap this week when it was revealed that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in the House may have had their travel expenses for a trip to Puerto Rico picked up by another lobbying firm - Smith, Dawson & Andrews. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones - an Ohio Democrat who unbelievably sits on the House Ethics Committee - was forced to "amend" a disclosure report this week to show that her junket was paid for by some group called Todo Puerto Rico con Vieques rather than Smith, Dawson & Andrews - blaming the discrepancy on "human error."
Yeah, that's the ticket.
This revelation was followed up by yet another ethics shoe dropping, this one on Rep. Tom Feeney, Florida Republican, and his wife. According to the Washington Times, the pair "traveled from Orlando to West Palm Beach, Fla., to deliver a speech in November 2003" and "according to records he filed with the House clerk, the $1,946 tab for the trip was picked up by Rotterman & Associates, a North Carolina-based lobbying firm."
Feeney has now changed his report to indicate that the travel expenses were actually paid for by the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, which, conveniently, is a non-profit organization which has employed Rotterman & Associates for fundraising services in the past. Talk about money being fungible. Ah, what a tangled web.
Frankly, I say let the lobbyists pick up the travel expenses so long as the relationship is fully and openly disclosed. The REAL scandal here is the nearly $2,000 cost for Feeney and his spouse to travel from Orlando to West Palm Beach. We're talking about a simple 2-3 hour trip by car, for crying out loud. What...were they driven there in a golden chariot?
Heck, with no advance purchase whatsoever, I found that the couple could have flown there on Southwest Airlines for $150.70 (not including confiscatory taxation and the airport screening/mauling fees). Now add in the highest nightly hotel rate I could find on Travelocity.com - which when I checked was $254.88 at the Marriott West Palm Beach (although the couple could have stayed comfortably at the Holiday Inn Express for just $113.06). Top that off with a nice dinner for two - including a bottle of the house's finest Chardonnay - and we're still talking about far less than a grand here.
So why does it cost a member of Congress $1,946 for a trip you and I could have taken for $194? Let's see the Democrats investigate THAT!
(Printer friendly version) Email: Chuck Muth
