Burns burning on ethics Montana, Policy Issues, Senators

Oh, we've been lax on talking about Conrad Burns the last week or so. I've been busy watching the Pombo/Gibbons duo go down in flames. But, now Burns is showing everyone how not to live in this post Culture of Corruption world. Just, whatever you say, don't let your staff say this when people ask if you're going to return money from a dirty lobbyist:

"There's nothing to return, the money has been spent."

You can go ahead and return the money later, but now you're stuck with that quote. And now the Missoulan thinks you might want to just hang it up:

Montana Democrats have got the perfect candidate to help them take the U.S. Senate seat up for election next year away from the Republicans. His name is Conrad Burns.

Burns, of course, is the three-term Republican incumbent. As a candidate for re-election, however, he may prove more valuable to the Democrats than to his own political party. Of greater concern is the likelihood that a race involving Burns next year is most unlikely to involve much serious discussion of government policy and almost certainly will be dominated by matters of ethics.

It helps Western Dems that both Jon Tester and John Morrison are making ethics a big part of their campaigns so far. Morrison even proposing ethics legislation:

Morrison said his plan expands existing efforts by House and Senate Democrats. Here are his proposed changes:

# Require lobbyists to file electronically a weekly report, instead of the current semiannual report, disclosing all the money they spent trying to influence legislation, with the reports available to the public online.

# Provide the public with the ability, through searchable databases, to see all information about who is trying to influence legislation in Congress and the executive branch through full and timely lobbying reports filed on the Internet.

# Put one agency in charge of ethics enforcement and provide it with the resources and authority to enforce the existing law.

# Prohibit former members of Congress and the executive branch from lobbying anyone in the federal government for two years after leaving office.

# Deny former members of Congress from access to the Senate and House floor and other member-only areas if they are registered lobbyists.

# Require members of Congress and their aides to disclose any privately funded trips they take and provide a detailed itinerary and list of expenses.

# Enforce ethics laws strictly, particularly those that prohibit trading votes for money or other gifts, and increase penalties for violations.

# Direct the Government Accountability Office to determine how much funding is needed for the House and Senate ethics committees to fully complete their oversight tasks.

# Create a task force on congressional ethics.

Emmett O'Connell | December 17, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) Permalink: Burns burning on ethics Montana, Policy Issues, Senators

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