Congressional Ethics

While voting on legislation for which their companies may benefit may not be illegal, it does appear to be a conflict of interest, said Aaron Scherb, a spokesman for Common Cause, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan government watchdog. “Unfortunately, members of Congress frequently vote on bills in which they can personally benefit, and in nearly all cases it’s not illegal, although it certainly looks bad and smells bad,” Scherb said. “We think it certainly should be illegal.”

Yesterday, Senate Republicans removed a measure from the intelligence bill that would have required presidential campaigns to report attempts or offers of foreign election interference to federal authorities and then defended President Trump’s excuses and refusal to act on U.S. intelligence reports that Russia has been paying bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. Troops. The so called “Duty to report” provision on foreign election interference, was passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee with bipartisan support in June but was removed from the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) currently before the full Senate.

Beth Rotman of Common Cause said the issue highlights the need for Congress to pass a law requiring its members to park their wealth in blind trusts while they are in office. “Sen. Loeffler, together with other congresspeople, should have all of their stocks in blind trusts so that everyday Americans do not have to guess about whether their representatives are putting their own interests over the interests of their constituents,” said Rotman, the organization’s director of money in politics and ethics.

Noting that the initial draft of the PPP did not have that “carve-in” for chains, Common Cause’s Beth Rotman, an expert in money and politics, told the Daily Beast, “Essentially a combination of wealthy special interests together with well-placed contributors at a critical moment bought a revision to our stimulus package that defined small business as including big business because they owned large franchises made up of hundreds of smaller entities. They were following the law they helped write.” 

When she retired from Common Cause in 1999, Archibald Cox, the Watergate prosecutor and longtime chairman of Common Cause, called her “a giant in the world of political reform,” a gifted organizer and an inspiring public speaker. “If I had her personality,” Mr. Cox said, “I would rule the world.”

“Saints are those who agree with your cause and will fight for it until the bitter end,” McBride observed in her mellifluous Louisiana lilt. “Sinners are those who vehemently oppose your cause and will to the day they die. People in the first two categories will never switch their opinions. It’s the savables, those caught in the middle, we all try to sway because there’s hope for them.”