The most ethical Congress ever. Draining the swamp. Doing away with the culture of corruption. Insert whatever Pelosi talking point you want, Nancy appears to want to insulate federal lawmakers from being investigated
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to buffer lawmakers from federal investigators. This is a bad idea. Special legal protections for politicians encourage unethical conduct.
Irvin B. Nathan, general counsel of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday about establishing a protocol on how to handle “hopefully rare searches and electronic surveillance involving members of Congress.” Mr. Nathan previously failed to negotiate such an agreement with the George W. Bush administration when Republicans controlled the House. His return to this effort isn’t surprising given the number of congressional Democrats facing accusations of ethical misconduct.
Democrats facing scrutiny include the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, for his close ties to the defense lobby firm PMA Group, which is under federal investigation; House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York about a number of tax issues; Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois over his reported effort to persuade ousted Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to appoint him to fill President Obama’s former Senate seat; and Rep. Jane Harman of California, who reportedly was taped in 2005 by the National Security Agency purportedly agreeing to help seek leniency for two accused Israeli spies in exchange for help in lobbying her appointment to chair the House Intelligence Committee.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, on Thursday invoked the separation of powers as justification for the move. Mrs. Pelosi, who has acknowledged being aware previously of Mrs. Harman’s controversial dialogue, claims the stance is a matter of principle. “Whether it’s invading an office or wiretapping a conversation, it’s important for us to have the separation of powers and the respect for individual liberties, again, while not harboring information that would be useful under the speech [or] debate clause,” she said.
Imagine this was, say, 2005, and J. Dennis Hastert pulled this rabbit out of the hat. Can you imagine the uproar from the media, both old and new? Now flash-forward to 2009, and try and even find the story at all the usual suspects. Pelosi is attempting to make sure that Democrats cannot be investigated for legal violations, pure and simple. Period. She forgets that elected representatives are not only not above the law, but that they should be held to higher standards.
Via Gateway Pundit, who also points to Glenn Reynolds: And don’t forget Pete Visclosky, Jim Moran, Allen Mollohan, etc. I know, I know — there are so many it’s hard to keep track!
PS: Who wants to bet that any “protections” will not apply to any Republican who so much as jaywalks?
Teach you seem to have forgotten that at the present time only Republicans from Congress are currently serving jail time for corruption. Being the “most ethical Congress ever, is actually a pretty low bar to clear, As far as media coverage ? this is just the same old same old about how the Republicans are being victimized again and again. Whiney whiney whiney. Fox is right of center, the problem is not that many people want to listen to their version of the news. Americans have plenty of news media choices.
Interesting how you completely ignore the central proposition, that Nancy is trying to keep Justice from investigating criminal wrong-doing by Congress critters. Do you agree with that?