Category: Common Sense

What would you expect politicians who claim to be reformers to say about a lobbyist making a $25,000 loan to a politician who then signs on to legislation promoted by the lobbyist? Well, apparently it depends a lot on whether the politician in question is a member of your party or the other party. Welcome to Washington.

The case involves six-term incumbent Congressman Jim Moran and now-defeated congressional candidate Terry Lierman, a drug company lobbyist. Both are Democrats and thus while Republicans are calling for investigations and resignations; Democrats are saying it’s all no big deal. That two men, one in Congress and the other seeking the office, could really be so clueless as to not notice that this type of transaction walks and quacks like a bribe is a sad commentary on the political talent we get to choose from.

Now Republicans are right to investigate this. But why have they given their own Republican Rep. Bud Schuster a free pass? Schuster’s dealings with a lobbyist have violated House rules but resulted in nothing more than a weak slap on the wrist. We can’t know what motivated the very inappropriate financial deal between Moran and Lierman, who are certainly innocent until proven guilty. But as for the double standard of career politicians who believe in one set of laws for you and another for them and their buddies . . . well, let’s just say: guilty as charged.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Ah, those Founding Fathers! Ya gotta love ’em. They were brave men and wise, and their wisdom stands the test of time.

Consider, for example, the Federalist Papers, editorials written early in our history to explain the new American constitution to the public. Consider in particular the famous Federalist Paper Number Ten, about the problem of faction. What James Madison called a faction is what we today call a “special interest.” But let me quote Madison: “By a faction,” says Madison, “I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”

You can see the beauty of this definition. Madison’s concept excludes any politically active groups that are fighting for the interests or rights of all of us. But it covers all groups, whether “actuated by passion or interest,” who just want to grab something for themselves at the expense of everyone else, for instance a subsidy or a price support or a regulation against a competitor. Madison’s definition also includes folks you wouldn’t think at first to regard as a special interest: like power-grabbing career politicians, whose factional propensities we would do well to recognize and combat. As usual, good work James.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Attention, America. Attention. The long battle is almost over. The Department of Agriculture has proposed to grant American farmers the all-important right to create smaller holes in Swiss cheese. They’ve bowed to pressure from groups like the Wisconsin Cheese Makers, which argued that the eye-size requirements for Swiss cheese are “out of step with the demands of the consumer and the marketer.”

Fans of Swiss cheese are wild with joy. Mary Smith, veteran cheese-eater of Kalamazoo, Michigan says, “I’m tired of all those huge holes. Why the regulators have taken so long to permit smaller Swiss-cheese holes is beyond me. Of course, I don’t want the holes to be too small. Well . . . I guess they know what they’re doing.” Hey, thank you so much, Mary, for your input. That was very valuable. And thank goodness our leaders don’t leave the fate of devoted eaters of cheese to the brutal free market.

Without the regulators in Washington, who knows what size the holes in Swiss cheese would be? Some might be too large for the cheese altogether. And some might be so small you could hardly see them! It’s all too scary to contemplate. One thing’s certain: It must take years of experience for our bureaucrats and career politicians to master the intricacies of cheese regulation.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Seems everybody has the right to make a deal except the American voter. This election season, some voters wanted to boost Ralph Nader’s vote count without hurting chances for Gore. So they visited web sites that let Nader supporters living in states where the race was tight trade votes with Gore supporters in other states. But California officials ordered one of the “Nader-trader” sites to shut down, saying it engaged in so-called “vote-brokering.”

Voters continued to Nader-trade offline, though and what’s wrong with that? It’s simply practical politics. Elections are supposed to work for the voters. Yet we’re often afraid to vote for who we really want, for fear of “throwing our vote away.” This election demonstrates the problem. Nader votes were the margin for a Bush win in five states. Buchanan was the margin that gave Gore two states. Probably not what these voters wanted.

There’s an easy electronic solution, though: instant runoffs. Say you want Nader to win but if Nader loses, you’d rather have Gore than Bush. Under instant runoff, you’d vote for Nader as First Choice, Gore as Second Choice. If no one gets a majority and your First Choice loses, the system instantly gives your vote to your Second Choice. It’s a new idea. You can find out more about it at www.fairvote.org. Instant runoffs would do a lot for democracy. Shouldn’t every one of our votes count as much as possible?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

This was the year for politicians, or so they thought. The economy is strong. So politicians hoped the time was right to roll back these pesky term limits laws voters had passed. We voters were supposed to be so fat, dumb and happy that we wouldn’t care how long politicians cling to power.

Threats of repeal were heard in many of the 18 state legislatures and the thousands of local jurisdictions. In Missouri, the State Senate passed a bill to water down term limits and the House was considering it when my group, U.S. Term Limits, began to run ads alerting the people. The South Dakota House tried the same thing until TV ads warned the electorate. Ditto in California. Once awakened, the public nixed all these schemes.

Elsewhere though, politicians required citizens to vote again and again for term limits they have already endorsed by wide margins. In New Mexico, state legislators placed a measure on the ballot to repeal term limits on all county elected officials. Their dastardly effort was crushed by over 71 percent of voters. Politicians in Tampa, Florida hoped a popular mayor would rally support to kill term limits. The voters said, “Thanks Mr. Mayor. We really like you. But now please step aside and give someone else a chance.” Politicians in Prince George’s County, Maryland and Chula Vista, California also tried to dissolve term limits and got clobbered by voters. Ain’t it grand how cockroaches scurry when we shine the flashlight?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Remember Jesse Ventura? Sure you do. A movie star and former wrestler, Ventura captured the governor’s seat in Minnesota a couple years back by giving a body slam to politics as usual. Lord knows I don’t agree with all the man’s opinions, nor all his policies neither. But I do like the fact that he is neither intimidated by the usual checklist of political pieties nor afraid to do battle with the powers that be. But those are strikes against Jesse, says Jonah Goldberg, in a recent issue of National Review.

Goldberg says Ventura is a “demagogue” who doesn’t see that, “the faults of the major parties stem from the fact that they are too democratic and too weak, not the reverse. . . . Untethered to any institution, Ventura is free to rant about the corruption of the cleanest political system in American history. . . .”

A demagogue, as you know, is an empty-headed fellow, usually a former wrestler, who rouses the rabble by a lot of deceptive rhetorical bluster. I give Ventura more credit than that. I think he says what he believes. Nor can I agree that thumbing your nose at today’s political establishment is tantamount to original sin. After the last several years of virtually non-stop scandal and corruption at the highest levels of office, I’m sorry, but anyone who thinks the political system is a hymn to integrity needs to pull his head out of the sand. But maybe Goldberg’s piece is really a slick parody of just that Ostrich-like attitude.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Perhaps it’s no longer news that lobbyists and politicians have become rip-off artists. But the extent to which our political culture has been corrupted, and the arrogance with which these folks including judges tolerate the sleaze still makes me see red.

Gerard Evans is a “million-dollar-a-year super-lobbyist” in Maryland. But after being convicted of nine counts of mail and wire fraud for tricking his own clients into believing there was pending legislation that could wreck their businesses, his lobbying practice is on hold for the 30 months he’ll spend in federal prison. That is, unless he conducts it from a prison yard pay phone, as did a previously convicted high-priced lobbyist.

Judge Motz said Evans took advantage of “a culture of corruption created and tolerated by legislators and lobbyists in the state of Maryland.” But here is the problem. Motz went on to say it was “tragic” that federal sentencing guidelines required him to sentence Evans to prison and that “Mr. Evans has accomplished much and helped many people.”

So, okay, not only is corruption rampant, but when powerful lobbyists and politicians are caught red-handed ripping people off, they are pampered like spoiled children by the courts. Would some poor kid without political connections be treated with the same teary-eyed compassion?

After his sentencing, Gerard Evans, newly appointed corruption expert said, “Clearly, there need to be some adjustments in [the capital].” He’s right, and putting him in jail is a good start.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Sometimes you find out the hard way who’s your friend and who’s your enemy. In 1998, the people of Florida passed term limits for their state’s delegation to Congress, eight years in the House and 12 years in the Senate. The measure passed with a whopping 77 percent of the vote a landslide.

In keeping with the voters’ desire, Representatives Charles Canady and Tillie Fowler endorsed the term limits initiative and pledged if elected to serve no more than voters had stipulated. Those eight years are now up and both are keeping their commitment. But U.S. Senate candidate Bill McCollum, a 20-year veteran of Congress, is different.

Though he regularly boasted of being the nation’s leading advocate of term limits, he refused to support the citizen initiative that would actually limit his terms. What’s more, McCollum bristled at the suggestion that he should personally abide by any limits whatsoever. To McCollum, term limits is a debating position, not something to live by. So, fearful that Florida’s term limits law might force him from office a full decade before any constitutional amendment, McCollum introduced legislation to overturn the vote of his own constituents.

McCollum’s arrogance and phony support of term limits helped hinder our movement. His real intention is clear: he wants to rule, not take turns. That’s why McCollum is no friend of term limits. As Phil Handy, the leader of Florida’s term limits effort said, McCollum is just “not one of us. He’s really in the way.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Law breaking by those who make the laws destroys respect for the rule of law. That’s why President Clinton’s perjury hurt our country as have the congressional scandals of Dan Rostenkowski, Bob Packwood, Wilbur Mills and a long list of powerful career politicians. Rostenkowski spent time in prison, but too often elected officials get away with it. Congress regularly turns the other cheek to misconduct.

Take the case of Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Schuster. Schuster is the king of pork barrel. He’s grabbed our tax dollars to build a highway in his district and, with all the humility and class of our political aristocracy, he has named it after himself. And there’s his $40,000 portrait hanging in the Transportation Committee room. An ethics investigation into Schuster’s relationship with a lobbyist who both represents clients with business before Schuster’s committee and who works for Schuster’s campaign found that Schuster, “engaged in serious official misconduct.”

Voters in Schuster’s Pennsylvania district don’t have much choice. Usually Schuster has been unopposed, like this year, and in ’98, ’94, ’92, ’90, ’88, ’86, etc. In 1996, Schuster outspent a rare challenger by better than 10 to 1. So what happens to Schuster? Nothing. Oh, the ethics committee sent him a letter saying he undermined the credibility of Congress quite an achievement. But he remains a powerful member of that body. He gets away with it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Arizona Governor Jane Hull doesn’t think the average voter is quite up to real decision-making. So she’s pushing efforts to thwart citizen initiatives by doubling the number of petition signatures voters must collect to get a vote on an issue. Her view is simple: the legislature and the governor are pros who can do all this better than us.

Politicians are so smart that we just can’t live without them. But then oops! . . . we get a little peek at their handiwork, and up in a puff of smoke goes that particular fatal conceit. Governor Hull is blaming the legislature for one of the biggest, stupidest blunders SHE ever signed into law. See, these geniuses offered to pay make the taxpayers pay half the cost of a new car if the vehicle is rigged to run on both regular gas and propane or natural gas. No requirement that the car use the alternative fuel. And Arizona taxpayers must also subsidize luxury items like leather seats and CD players. So, the program costs a whopping $420 million a full seven percent of the state’s budget and is having zero impact on smog, according to environmentalists.

Don’t worry, Governor Hull, help is on the way. Arizona’s term limits law will now bring fresh faces and real world experience into state government to replace that insufferable know-it-all attitude. Term limits were brought by citizen initiative. Blowing over $420 million was the work of experienced politicians, working overtime.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.