Nat'l Journal Poll: Dems Could Do Better On Ethics
Three in 10 Congressional Democrats say their party leadership is not doing enough to police ethics enforcement in the Democratic Party, according to National Journal's latest Congressional Insiders Poll.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has caught the most heat for refusing to make any moves regarding Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful Appropriations Defense subcommittee, despite numerous investigative media reports depicting potential misdeeds. Despite calls for Rangel to step down from his post, Pelosi has maintained that she will wait for the ethics committee to complete its investigation.
"Leaders should not attempt to influence the timing or outcome of an ethics investigation," one Democrat, who thinks leadership isn't doing enough, told National Journal. "However, they should ask any subject of an investigation to step down from positions of leadership during the review of serious charges."
Just 62 percent of House and Senate Democrats surveyed said party leadership was doing enough, nearly 20 points less than the number of Republicans who say the same about their own leadership. But, reminds one Democrat, "Let's not forget: It wasn't until the Democrats took over the majority that Congress adopted strengthened rules of ethical oversight."
While 19 percent of Republicans say their party leaders are not doing enough, most say the tables have turned since 2006, when Democrats rode a "drain-the-swamp" wave back to power.
"All of the Republican ethical issues resulted in them losing power--lesson learned," said one Republican.



