House rules

With Rod Blagojevich and Charlie Rangel in the news and under pressure from the media, now is the time for the House and Senate GOP caucuses to push a real transparency and ethics agenda. On January 6th, both Houses will meet and begin the work of passing rules. We need to have some specific proposals, and this is not something that I follow well. Furthermore, the GOP ought to shoot big here. Frankly, we aren't going to run Congress for a while, so let's max this out.

Imagine some proposals:

First, in both bodies, allow individuals to submit ethics complaints and require the various ethics committees to officially reject complaints.

Second, faster and more complete campaign finance proposals. All contributions down to $5, or even just all contributions, should be disclosed. Electronic contributions should be disclosed within 72 hours, and checks should be disclosed within 72 hours of deposit. These would be real-time disclosed on the FEC website. This would solve the problem that the Sunlight Foundation and others have tried to address with S. 223.

Third, put video of all publicly accessible business meetings online. I am sure that C-SPAN and Google would be happy to help. I know that many committees keep video of markups, but release neither the video nor transcripts.

Fourth, I am sure that there are things that are specific to disclosure of financial interests that we have learned out of the Rangel affair. Throw that in.

Only the second item needs to be implemented in law. If it got to Barack Obama's desk, he would have to sign it, and it would be embarassing.

The others can be the basis of a rules fight at the beginning of the session. Make these new Democrats who ran on ethics vote against transparency and for their leadership or against their leadership.

Furthermore, let's seperate Obama from the Demcratic Congress. Let's praise his transparency measures, like disclosing meetings of his transition teams, while smacking the Congressional majorities around.

Last Monday, Mark Udall promised he would vote against adjournment to force Congress to deal with gas prices and the energy issue. The thing is, he didn't. He missed the vote and got totally slammed by his opponent Bob Schaffer. From the Denver Post:

"While Coloradans are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, I guess it wasn't important enough for (Udall) to show up for work this week," said Dick Wadhams, the campaign manager for Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer. "He made a commitment Monday, he didn't even show up for work Tuesday and then he missed the vote today."

The Democrats won that vote 213-212. If Udall had been there, it would have been 213-213 and failed, because a tie-vote loses in the House.

In other words, Mark Udall broke his word. When it came down to him versus Nancy Pelosi's leadership, he chose Nancy. Now Udall, will tell you he didn't break his word. Read on to see the machinations that he and Steny Hoyer went through to give Udall cover.

Good points. Then again, we're Republicans, so we obey the rules. But did we do so to a fault in this case? -Patrick

Much ado has been made about the House Republican protest against Democrats for adjourning without a vote on energy policy, and with good reason. It is both a politically momeentous occasion and a technological one.

But thus far, this public relations battle has been a missed video opportunity for the GOP. Someone needs to be capturing this event on film for posterity.

Yes, there are good reasons why that hasn't happened. In a display of cowardice designed to save her party from embarrassment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ordered the cameras in the House chamber turned off, and C-SPAN dutifully and complied. Unfortunately, C-SPAN has a monopoly on congressional floor coverage. Cameras are banned on the floor and in the press and public galleries.

But if Republicans want to make the most of this confrontation with a recalcitrant majority, they need to find a way to film it. The on-site Twitter coverage has been great, but online video is far more powerful. There's a big difference between reading the words "Crowd chants 'USA! USA!' and 'Drill now!'" and actually seeing that enthusiasm as it happens.

If this truly is "the Boston Tea Party of 2008," as Arizona Republican John Shadegg said on Twitter, then someone needs to start dumping some tea.

Lawmakers already have shown a willingness to challenge outdated House rules that fail to recognize the realities of communication in the information age. Why not challenge the rules against video from the floor?

Someone obviously already did so with a cell-phone camera, but the grainy, choppy footage was merely symbolic, not substantive. Americans deserve to see and hear more.

C-SPAN can't buck Pelosi's orders and stay in business, but would she risk challenging a fellow House member who taped a debate, or at least one side of it, that Americans are entitled to hear? To do so would be an even greater PR disaster for Democrats.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, or some other high-tech revolutionary should take a videocamera onto the floor and show the tape that C-SPAN can't. And if Republicans don't want to go that far in testing the House rules, then have the debate somewhere other than the House chamber. Move the proceedings outside the Capitol building for everyone to see.

If Republicans continue the protest, the liberal media will keep ridiculing it and burying the news. But the Internet makes it possible to bypass the media and have the energy debate neither the liberals in Congress nor the liberal media want America to hear.

Put it all on Eyeblast.tv. We'll help spread the word.