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December 07, 2005BELTWAY BLOGROLL
A New Standard For Campaign Corruption
The two bloggers at the forefront of the battle over campaign finance law never have been fans of "reformers" like Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21.
But yesterday those bloggers, Mike Krempasky of the conservative RedState and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of the liberal Daily Kos, registered their contempt for Wertheimer at a new level. Both suggested that the man who says his mission is to combat corruption may be corrupt himself, at least by the standard he sets.
Krempasky and Moulitsas posted their criticisms of Wertheimer in response to a letter he wrote to lawmakers in opposition to a campaign finance bill, H.R. 1606. The measure would grant a limited exemption from campaign finance law to the Internet, including blogs. In November, the House failed to pass that bill under expedited procedures, but it could be considered again later this month under normal floor rules.
The letter mentioned the lobbying scandal involving Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon and said abuses of campaign finance law are at the core of that controversy. "The last thing the House should be doing is passing legislation, like H.R. 1606, which would again allow members of Congress to use influence-buying, corrupt soft money to finance their campaigns," Wertheimer wrote.
Both Krempasky and Moulitsas argued that Wertheimer set the corruption bar so high as to tar even himself. "[L]ast time I checked, his letter to every congressperson was an effort to influence Congress," Moultisas wrote. "And his organization, Democracy 21, is well-financed by unknown interests (organizations and foundations whose donors are not public). ... By his own words, Fred is corrupt and akin to Abramoff."
Krempasky went further, suggesting that Wertheimer is worse than Abramoff because Abramoff had to file lobbying disclosure forms. "Fred takes money from, well, who knows -- incumbents, foundations, wealthy individuals -- and then promises to apply pressure to Congress to keep their competitors (challengers, bloggers, activists) off balance. Corruption is a strong word. Let's use it. Over and over and over and over."
UPDATE: Adam Bonin, Moulitsas' lawyer and a contributor at Daily Kos, also addressed the issue in a later post.
"Members of the reform lobby like Common Cause have been our real and natural allies on so many issues, and we should be working together to clean up politics," Bonin wrote. "But we see robust and unfettered political discourse on the Internet as being part of the solution to dirty politics, and they see it as part of the problem. And I think it's from that difference in mindset -- that failure to grasp what this medium empowers individuals and groups of citizens to do -- that has led us to where are today."
UPDATE II: Former Federal Election Commission staffer Allison Hayward critiqued the arguments in the reformers' letter to Congress at Skeptic's Eye.
Posted by | 10:47 PM
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