Say Anything Blog

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats seized on a mushrooming scandal involving a disgraced lobbyist on Saturday to call for sweeping ethics probes in the Republican-led House of Representatives.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said lobbyists had multiplied by the thousands in recent years to the point where there were now 63 of them for every lawmaker. She said they were using their campaign donations to influence policy and even write laws.

Slaughter called on the House ethics committee to investigate corruption cases involving lawmakers with links to Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who pleaded guilty this week in a U.S. corruption probe.

"The House ethics committee, after a year of inaction, must get to work immediately to investigate pending ethics and corruption cases in the House, including those involving members with ties to Jack Abramoff," she said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"This is a necessary first step to restore a high ethical standard to the Congress," Slaughter said.

I'm all for getting to the bottom of this corruption stuff, but it seems to me that the Abramoff scandal is already getting plenty of attention from federal prosecutors who seem to be doing a good job of bringing those involved to justice. Congressional investigations, for all the media attention and chest thumping involved, actually don't usually result in a whole lot of consequences. Slaps on the wrist, at most.

If Congress wants to do something about corruption they should leave the investigating to the pros and focus on reforming the law.

This would be a great place to start.

jack abramoff, corruption, lobbying, louise slaughter, politics, reform