Abramoff and the Dems
According to press reports today and yesterday, convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has named incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as someone he influenced while lobbying on behalf of Indian gambling interests. Abramoff claims that approximately $30,000 in donations to Reid resulted in his support for these gambling interests.
This is an important development in the Abramoff probe and should be investigated in an exhaustive manner. The American public deserves to hear the full story so that both sides may be called to account. The Democrats were emphatic that Abramoff and his cronies needed to be exposed – I hope they will have the courage to continue that call now that one of their own is implicated.
Ethics will and should be an important issue for the incoming Congress and it is important that party leaders are able to facilitate the debate in an honest and forthright manner. I look forward to the upcoming debate on ethics reform and hope that the Congress takes bold action to preserve the legitimacy of our government institutions.
I am independent moderate who contributed to Dems in order to wrestle control of the congress from the GOP.
I assume that both parties have their ethical baggage and hope that some reforms will reduce the opportunities for abuse: More transparency, non-partisan redistricting, even some public financing of campaigns to reduce the pressue to fundraise and pander.
But I hope the primary focus of time and resources is towards revising policy to nurture the middle class: Health Care, Tax simplification, Tuition, energy costs...
That makes two scandals for Dingy Harry. The dems were going around talking about how we had to clean up Washington and that the time to kick the Republicans and instill a new cleaner leadership. Now Harry Ried has some serious issues with first his real estate deal and then we find out that Harry Ried is connected to receiving money from Jack Abramoff. Talk about being hypocritical. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
If the dems want to go this route they will be done in two years, they will be in the minority so fast their heads will spin. This is all the while the dems have said they are going to have investigations upon investigations for this that and everything the GOP has done.