Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Last Night: Another Ethics Sham   [David Freddoso]

Last night, by a single vote (207-206), House Democrats managed to ram through their new ethics proposal (it creates an extra layer of ethics bureaucracy in addition to the House Ethics Committee). The irony is that they had to break their own "New Direction for America" rules to do it. They held the vote open beyond the 15 minutes allotted for it, thus breaking one of the new House rules they promised and created:

House Rule XX, clause 2(a) “A record vote by electronic device shall not be held open for the sole purpose of reversing the outcome of such vote.” 

This rule had been written and put into place by Democratic leaders as a response to the infamous three-hour vote that led to the passage of the prescription drug benefit in 2003. They had run for Congress against a so-called "culture of corruption" that included such parliamentary maneuvers, and now they are breaking their own rules.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) protests:

“The Rules of the House specifically state that the Majority cannot hold a vote open solely to change its outcome.  This rule was clearly violated last night, and the Majority must be held accountable for it.  The fact that Democratic leaders are not willing to own up to their behavior demonstrates to the American people that they simply aren’t willing to live by their own rules.  In a Congress the Majority has promised would be the most fair, open, and honest in history, this is particularly disappointing – and hypocritical."

I'm critical of the use of "hypocritical," but in this case it seems to apply. Democrats consciously and self-righteously made an issue of this kind of chicanery in their 2006 campaign, offering it as a reason to elect them. Once again, they're doing the same thing they'd vigorously denounced.

Republicans have been protesting their behavior by holding dilatory votes on the House floor all morning — so far, the Clerk's tally on the Internet includes two Republican motions to adjourn so far today and a privileged motion.

03/12 01:29 PMShare