Fresh GOP Ethics Woes

By Jay Newton-Small

Since winning control of Congress months ago, Democrats have been under immense pressure to pass legislation tightening the ethics rules that govern Washington. Corruption was the No. 1 issue on voters' minds, according to exit polls, but even as Democrats worked to pass a bill, public esteem for Congress sank to the lowest level ever--just 14% of people approve of the body.

So Dems celebrated loudly at the July 31 House passage--and anticipated Senate passage--of a measure that forces lawmakers at least to begin cleaning up shop. It makes them disclose earmarks, curbs corporate-paid gifts and travel, ends the lavish parties lobbyists throw "in honor" of politicians and requires quarterly reports on the money lobbyists raise for politicians, known as bundling.

Still, critics wonder if the measure goes far enough--for example, the original bill required that bundles of $5,000 or more be disclosed, but that threshold was raised in the final bill, to $15,000. And Republicans, while mostly in support of the measure, were quick to wryly note that the bill looked awfully similar to one they proposed last year and Democrats decried as too weak.

On the same day the bill passed, federal agents raided the Alaska home of Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator in history. The Justice Department is targeting Stevens and Representative Don Young (R., Alaska) as part of an investigation of two former execs at Veco, an Alaskan energy-services company. Both execs pled guilty in May to bribery. While Stevens was chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee and Young chaired the Transportation Committee, Veco landed more than $40 million in federal contracts. If corruption sweeps the GOP from power in Congress, Dems in Alaska hope that if they continue to seize the issue, they can end the era of GOP dominance. In the words of one Alaska Dem: "Even the Ice Age thaws."