Will Democrats take this rare opportunity to reform way Washington works?

Answer, perhaps not. Must read article below.

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/011106_watchdogs.html

Watchdogs put Dems on notice

By Elana Schor

As Democrats move to unite behind an anti-corruption agenda aimed at exposing political weakness in the scandal-scarred GOP, watchdog groups are warning that a Democratic leadership lobbying-reform package will not win their automatic support.

<>Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, said he was not satisfied after viewing an early draft of the “Honesty in Leadership” proposal that House and Senate Democrats will unveil next week. “It’s an important step in the right direction, but doesn’t go nearly far enough,” Clemente said. “It lacks a ban on lobbyist campaign contributions, permits way too much special-interest-funded travel.” Clemente declined to elaborate further on what he characterized as inadequacies in the Democratic plan, which is still being finalized and kept secret by staffers conscious of the issue’s sensitivity. While Democrats assemble their plan, House and Senate GOP leaders have tapped House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) to begin drafting bills aimed at overhauling the nation’s lobbying laws.

<>The watchdog community, Wertheimer said, is largely backing lobbying and ethics bills already introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) as well as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Reps. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) and Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). “Those are the individuals who are going to have credibility in this battle, far more than any players who are now leaping into the game because the issue has become such a front-burner concern for the American people,” Wertheimer said.

The Democratic “Honesty in Leadership” plan will address lobbying, ethics and institutional reform and eventually become formal legislation, said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Democratic members will be invited to stay in the capital for a two-day strategy session after the plan is introduced Jan. 18. Watchdog groups, Crider said, “will make their own decision about it, but it will be a real reform.”

<>“If you’re doing a serious lobbying-reform proposal, it has to start with money, and none of these proposals is dealing with money,” Clemente said. “My concern is that Democrats who should be leading the reform effort are part of the system just as much as Republicans. It’s like an alcoholic who knows he needs to get off booze but is not quite ready to do it.”

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This is my concern, also. Democrats will miss another opportunity, like the bankuptcy bill they enabled to pass, if they do not stand behind real reform--an end to the "pay to play" influence peddling that serves the special interests, rather than the public interest.

some repubs to come across the isle and sign the thing. If it's too radical, it doesn't get passed, period.

zalinda

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) agreed last week to co-sponsor the McCain-Shays bill, a slightly weaker version of its Feingold-Meehan-Emanuel counterpart, annoying Democrats who have hammered the GOP for being steeped in “cronyism and corruption.”

“Lieberman’s support for the McCain-Shays ethics plan does little more than give unfortunate cover to weak Republican incumbents who have been too little, too late in their sudden recognition of ethics reform as an issue,” one Democratic staffer said.

The Democratic “Honesty in Leadership” plan will address lobbying, ethics and institutional reform and eventually become formal legislation, said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Democratic members will be invited to stay in the capital for a two-day strategy session after the plan is introduced Jan. 18.

Watchdog groups, Crider said, “will make their own decision about it, but it will be a real reform.”

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/011106_watchdogs.html

My two cents

The citizen's government integrity groups have the good ideas which need to be implemented if we want real meaningful change. Otherwise government by and for the corporations will go on as usual.

Make a concerted effort to distance themselves from the way Washington works now, by shouting from the rooftops, that the way the Republicans have done business is an abuse of the trust of the American people, and they are demanding real reform of the system.

That Steny Hoyer, who reportedly has been courting the same K Street crowd, is a major player in the Dems potential legislation, is worrisome, indeed.