Republicans tarnished by failure to clean up government
Republicans tarnished by failure to clean up government
By Edward Luce and Holly Yeager in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 27 2006 22:34 | Last updated: October 27 2006 22:34
Twelve years ago the Republican Party swept to control of the US House of Representatives for the first time in a generation on the promise “to restore accountability to Congress, to end its cycle of scandal and disgrace and to make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves”.
If, as polls suggest, the Democrats regain control of the House in mid-term congressional elections next month, Dennis Hastert, the speaker since 1999, will attract much of the blame. Indeed, many of Mr Hastert’s fellow Republicans are dishing out “pre-criminations” in anticipation of defeat.
Mr Hastert, who signed the “Contract with America” that helped the Republicans to victory in 1994, was this week questioned by the House ethics committee for his alleged role in helping cover up the behaviour of Mark Foley, a colleague, who made lewd advances to teenage interns via e-mail over a period of years. Mr Hastert denies that he learned of Mr Foley’s behaviour more than a year ago.
But many congressional observers say the Foley sex scandal, which has damaged Republican electoral prospects since it became public this month, has overshadowed far more serious allegations about what has taken place under Mr Hastert’s speakership.
Among these were a detailed investigation into Mr Hastert’s flourishing personal finances published in the Chicago Tribune, which showed the speaker had booked $2m (€1.6m, £1.05m) in profits from a land sale in his home state of Illinois.
The sale was in December 2005, three months after President George W. Bush signed the $286bn highways bill into law. Mr Hastert had inserted a $207m earmark (a tailored clause) into the bill to fund a public highway in Illinois that runs three miles from his property.
Following the bill, the value of the land soared and Mr Hastert, who owned most of the 138-acre property, booked the profits. He bought one parcel of land in 2002 and a second, held in a secret trust, in 2004. He has denied any impropriety. “I owned land and I sold it, just like millions of people do every day,” he said. Mr Hastert did not return calls seeking comment.
But Mr Hastert’s response failed to convince sceptics for whom the episode serves as an emblem of what has gone wrong under his speakership. “Here you have the speaker inserting federal money into federal legislation that directly results in his personal enrichment,” said Scott Lilly, a former career staff member in the House appropriations committee. “It is breathtaking.”
Others, including a growing number of disenchanted Republicans, point to a culture of runaway deficit spending fuelled by the influence of lobby groups.
The number of federal investigations into congressional corruption has leapt. One of Mr Hastert’s colleagues was imprisoned this year and two more face trial. A further seven are under investigation.
“The Republicans swept to power on the promise of cleaning up government and controlling deficits and the opposite has happened,” said Thomas Mann, a veteran observer of Congress at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “As speaker, Mr Hastert has done more damage to the institution of Congress than any other in my lifetime. He has been willing to set aside any rule, procedure, tradition or norm to further whatever agenda he was serving.”
Recent polls show public approval for Congress has fallen to a record low of 16-23 per cent, depending on the pollster. “When you get down that low, you’re down to blood relatives and paid staffers,” John McCain, a senator and likely Republican presidential contender in 2008, told an audience in South Dakota last week. “We need to reform ethics. We need to reform lobbying. We need to restore the faith and confidence of the American people in our institutions of government.”
Many are sceptical as to whether Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader who will probably succeed Mr Hastert if the Democrats win, can fulfil her promise to clean up Congress by tightening its ethics and requiring lawmakers to declare any interest in the earmarks they sponsor.
But few can miss the irony that Ms Pelosi is promising very similar reforms to those put forward by Mr Hastert and his colleagues in 1994. “It would certainly be in Ms Pelosi’s interests to attempt to clean up Congress,” said Mr Mann.
“My guess is that she’ll try for a while. But sooner or later the larger forces at work will start to reassert themselves.”
By Edward Luce and Holly Yeager in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 27 2006 22:34 | Last updated: October 27 2006 22:34
Twelve years ago the Republican Party swept to control of the US House of Representatives for the first time in a generation on the promise “to restore accountability to Congress, to end its cycle of scandal and disgrace and to make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves”.
If, as polls suggest, the Democrats regain control of the House in mid-term congressional elections next month, Dennis Hastert, the speaker since 1999, will attract much of the blame. Indeed, many of Mr Hastert’s fellow Republicans are dishing out “pre-criminations” in anticipation of defeat.
Mr Hastert, who signed the “Contract with America” that helped the Republicans to victory in 1994, was this week questioned by the House ethics committee for his alleged role in helping cover up the behaviour of Mark Foley, a colleague, who made lewd advances to teenage interns via e-mail over a period of years. Mr Hastert denies that he learned of Mr Foley’s behaviour more than a year ago.
But many congressional observers say the Foley sex scandal, which has damaged Republican electoral prospects since it became public this month, has overshadowed far more serious allegations about what has taken place under Mr Hastert’s speakership.
Among these were a detailed investigation into Mr Hastert’s flourishing personal finances published in the Chicago Tribune, which showed the speaker had booked $2m (€1.6m, £1.05m) in profits from a land sale in his home state of Illinois.
The sale was in December 2005, three months after President George W. Bush signed the $286bn highways bill into law. Mr Hastert had inserted a $207m earmark (a tailored clause) into the bill to fund a public highway in Illinois that runs three miles from his property.
Following the bill, the value of the land soared and Mr Hastert, who owned most of the 138-acre property, booked the profits. He bought one parcel of land in 2002 and a second, held in a secret trust, in 2004. He has denied any impropriety. “I owned land and I sold it, just like millions of people do every day,” he said. Mr Hastert did not return calls seeking comment.
But Mr Hastert’s response failed to convince sceptics for whom the episode serves as an emblem of what has gone wrong under his speakership. “Here you have the speaker inserting federal money into federal legislation that directly results in his personal enrichment,” said Scott Lilly, a former career staff member in the House appropriations committee. “It is breathtaking.”
Others, including a growing number of disenchanted Republicans, point to a culture of runaway deficit spending fuelled by the influence of lobby groups.
The number of federal investigations into congressional corruption has leapt. One of Mr Hastert’s colleagues was imprisoned this year and two more face trial. A further seven are under investigation.
“The Republicans swept to power on the promise of cleaning up government and controlling deficits and the opposite has happened,” said Thomas Mann, a veteran observer of Congress at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “As speaker, Mr Hastert has done more damage to the institution of Congress than any other in my lifetime. He has been willing to set aside any rule, procedure, tradition or norm to further whatever agenda he was serving.”
Recent polls show public approval for Congress has fallen to a record low of 16-23 per cent, depending on the pollster. “When you get down that low, you’re down to blood relatives and paid staffers,” John McCain, a senator and likely Republican presidential contender in 2008, told an audience in South Dakota last week. “We need to reform ethics. We need to reform lobbying. We need to restore the faith and confidence of the American people in our institutions of government.”
Many are sceptical as to whether Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader who will probably succeed Mr Hastert if the Democrats win, can fulfil her promise to clean up Congress by tightening its ethics and requiring lawmakers to declare any interest in the earmarks they sponsor.
But few can miss the irony that Ms Pelosi is promising very similar reforms to those put forward by Mr Hastert and his colleagues in 1994. “It would certainly be in Ms Pelosi’s interests to attempt to clean up Congress,” said Mr Mann.
“My guess is that she’ll try for a while. But sooner or later the larger forces at work will start to reassert themselves.”
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