Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Corruption in Congress

MATA MUSING

I've long held a beef with Congress. Never have I seen a group more ripe for mandatory term limits and drug testing. And, of course, neither would happen since they have to impose such limitations of power upon themselves. Rather like the coyote guarding the hen house.

What did my heart good was to see my distain for the elected elites echoed by others in none other than
a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. It was close, but more of those polled (49%) believe Congress is filled with corruption... across party lines. The second figure (46%)didn't entirely let them off the hook either. They didn't say they weren't corrupt, only that "most aren't".

Talk about being out of touch with constituents.... See more details about individual party results in the linked article.

This attitude towards Congress brings us to my main point...
the imminent release of the Barrett Report on Jan 19th. Because of a Congressional amendment to the November judiciary appropriations bill, the report will be edited... and again, this was across party lines. In fact, Tony Snow is one of those leading the charge for public demand of full disclosure.

It does give one pause for cause as to why the findings of the $22 mil independent counsel will not be available to the taxpayers. It is also a head scratcher that the GOP wouldn't leap at the chance to further embarrass a WH admin that had more than it's fair share of scandals with the upcoming elections.

Could it be that the findings would not only damage Clintonian HUD Sec'y Henry Cisneros, but many GOP Congressional members as well? Hummmm..... Inquiring minds want to know.

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