Announcing the Congress Reform team lineup!

Well, today is the big day, when All Things Reform's Facebook has determined the current lineup for our Congressional Reform team.

We have two "starting" levels: the All-Stars, and the practice squad. Here are the lineups:

Congress Reform All-Stars

• US Rep. Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi
• US Sen. Russ Feingold
• US Sen. Majority Whip Dick Durbin
• US Rep. Jeff Flake
• US Sen. Jim DeMint
• US Rep. Dennis Kucinich
  

Congress Reform practice squad

• US Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
• US Sen. Ted Stevens
• US Rep. Jack Murtha
• US Sen. Larry Craig
• US Rep. William Jefferson
  
• US Sen. John Ensign

There you have it, the Congressional Reform team! Check out the pictures and the strengths/ weaknesses of these players at All Things Reform Facebook page right now!

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U.S. House leadership: start cooperating with law enforcement agencies!

CREW, a public advocacy organization, has posted information about a letter sent today to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner asking that the House leaders start cooperating with law enforcement authorities pursuing legitimate criminal investigations involving members of Congress.

Leaders of the House have been improperly shielding members of Congress – including former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) -- from criminal investigation and prosecution through an expansive and aggressive interpretation of the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.

Members of Congress, like all other citizens, can hire attorneys to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected; this is not, however, the job of the House general counsel, hired at taxpayer expense.

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Sign the Public Campaign petition against special interest deals

Public Campaign Action Fund has a petition to the U.S. Congress leadership, asking them to take control of the special interest bill requests from Bush donors. President Bush rode into the White House in the elections of 2000 and 2004 on a wave of large corporate campaign contributions, and now they are asking for preferential benefits in return. Our president, however, is for we, the people, not special interests. If you agree and would like to sign the petition, please go here. Here's more info from the petitioner, PCAF:

Stop Bush's Holiday Giveaways
The New York Times reported that lobbyists for big corporations were “racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the Bush administration than from its successor.” The industries seeking these changes are big donors to Bush’s elections in 2000 and 2004. Congressional leaders ought to do everything in their power to stop these disastrous changes that hurt the environment, public health, workers, and consumer safety.

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The Senator Larry Craig vs. Senator Ted Stevens admonishment question

There has been some considerations, and perhaps a few comments, about why U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) was relieved of his committee posts and fellow U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was not. You remember that Craig was alleged to commit immoral public sexual behavior, while Senator Stevens was alleged to unethically steer taxpayer monies to a business in exchange for personal benefit.

As both congressmen are Republicans, a true double-standard in party leadership response is the question at hand. May I submit to you that the predominant philosophy of today's Republican leadership in Congress is conservative; therefore, it's actions would favor questions of personal morals more than that of ethical values.

Given the professed political philosophies in the Senate Republican Party leadership, it should have come as no surprise that Craig was admonished for his alleged immoral behavior, while Stevens unethical actions were considered much less.

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Have courage, candidates-- call yourselves 'ethical'

We must turn the tide of loopholes and trickery in our candidates' election campaigns if we are to call ourselves truly "democratic". Instead of "abusing the letter" of our campaign finance laws, we must "align with the spirit" of those laws. True leadership involves honesty and accountability; you can't have that if you "work the system" for your own campaign's own short-term benefit. If we want to elect true leaders for our elective offices, we must recognize the honesty and accountability of ethical campaigns.

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The Senate must show leadership on immigration reform

Immigration reform legislation will resume within the next several days in the U.S. Senate. Just recently, it had suffered a quick death after a very hasty legislative process involving a small group of senators. This issue is very critical to the security of this nation; we have not enforced our current immigration laws adequately, to the point that we now have about 12 million illegal immigrants in our country.

Immigration, especially in this post 9/11 world, is ultimately a national security issue, and if we can't defend our borders from millions of illegal immigrants each year-- most of which cross our southern border-- we question our very sovereignty.

Let us open up our legislative process on such a complex national bill-- many considerations go into immigration-- economics, social services, crime, culture, agriculture. By seriously employing the full resources of our congress, can we as a nation take control of this national security issue.

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Vote for leaders, not people

Campaigns come and go, but the people never change. They move at their own pace in their own direction. It is up to the leaders to do the right thing. I'm not talking about being correct-- it is that leadership is thoughtful and humble in its responsibilities.

As for the people, they're not right all of the time. But in crises they do what is correct.

In 2008, do what is correct-- vote for true leadership.

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