How This Congress Works

Many people, including me, call this the Do Nothing Congress. It is a fitting name but another might be the Line My Pockets Congress. Corruption has hit levels unprecedented since pre-war (WWI) days. Duke Cunningham and his $2.5 million in bribes, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff and Santorum's K Street Project....the list keeps getting longer as new indictments and stories become public.

Too many Congressmen's spouses are working on K Street. One would be too many. The Washington Post is reporting about another example of how influence is being sold in this manner. First a little background, the Congressman from Virginia is Tom Davis and his friend Don Upson formed a "consulting" firm called ICG after he was elected. Congressman Davis' wife works for ICG.

ICG's relationship with Davis has played out on a number of levels. The firm has arranged for clients to meet with Davis in his congressional office. Upson has set up dinners and receptions with the lawmaker for his clients. And ICG has arranged for clients to testify before Davis's committee. In one case, Upson's team wrote the testimony. Some of those clients, who pay ICG about $8,000 per month, have told The Washington Post that their testimony was a part of marketing strategies developed by ICG to bolster the clients' "clout" and "visibility" on Capitol Hill and with government contracting officials.

Also:

Davis's wife, a part-time ICG consultant, has contacted senior government technology officials on behalf of clients, including an undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security. Upson paid her $78,000 last year for working "10 to 20 hours a week," primarily at home on her cellphone, she said. She makes $18,000 a year as a Virginia legislator.

This incestuous relationship between lobbyists, consultants and Congress has become common. If you recall the first act passed by this Congress after being sworn in was to defang the ethics rules. That was the first vote many new Republicans cast in January 2005. It was designed to shield Tom DeLay and set the tone for lax ethics standards.

So what is being done to reign in these abuses? Has the public indignation at so much corruption finally prompting Congress to deal with these issues? No. Another Post article the other day reports no progress on serious lobbying reform.

Unable to agree on major lobbying and ethics legislation, Senate and House leaders have made plans to adopt vastly scaled-back versions of the measures as part of their rules so that lawmakers can claim that they responded to recent congressional scandals.

"It's on life support," Jan W. Baran, a leading Republican ethics lawyer, said of the final bill.

In November voters can pull the plug on these lawmakers and put them out of their misery.