Obama Administration’s ethics are the topic of debate

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

President and CEO of Democracy 21, Fred Wertheimer gave a talk today at the Washington Foreign Media Center to discuss "Ethics in the Obama Administration - Are Washington' Rules Changing?"

According to Democracy 21, they are a non-profit and nonpartisan organization which aims to provide the public with information on campaigns and campaign financing. Democracy 21 wants to ensure campaign financing laws are adhered to and modernized.

Talking specifically about Obama, Wertheimer commented on how the
President had been a a key figure while in the Senate by fighting for ethical reform.

Wertheimer said: “We have a new President who comes from a different culture in terms of his own career with a long track record on government integrity reform issues. In the state where he comes from there are two strands of politicians. There is one strand that creates the scandals, of which have led to four governors being indicted and many other problems. There is another reform strand, that goes back to Senator John Douglas...and now Senator Obama.”

President Obama has a long track record on these issues. It did not start on his first day of office,” Wertheimer added.

However, Wertheimer noted that recent set-backs in Obama’s new administration may have led critics to question the President’s performance on ethic related matters.

Speaking specifically about the Daschle nomination withdrawl, Wertheimer said: “Senator Daschle from my personal experience’s of dealing with him, was a terrific public servant for many years in the Congress and I had during the time I worked with him the highest regard for him. He kind of, was a product of the rules of Washington. This kind of Washington culture, he fell into like others have, and he got caught up in this clash, between what has been a normal Washington culture, which Washington accepts, and a set of circumstances created by Obama’s campaign which led to expectations of a change in this culture. He got caught in the middle of that.”

Wertheimer said: “It is an interesting question, whether Washington can change. What we are seeing here is a potential clash between a culture that has developed in recent decades, in Washington, which is a lobbyist special interest, money and politics culture.”

Campaign 21 is a supporter of the Executive Reform legislation that prohibits former serving members from becoming lobbyist after serving their term. The legislation also tackles, what Wertheimer described as the “reverse revolving door” scenario where lobbyist enter the Executive Branch.

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Reporting from the University of New Mexico Journalism Program

Protecting D.C.- Management of the Federal Protective Service investigated

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia held a hearing regarding management challenges facing the Federal Protective Service (FPS).

Senators at the hearing questioned Director of the FPS (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement section) Gary Schenkel and Mark Goldstein, Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the progress the FPS has had in protecting Washington from terrorist attacks, as well as enforcing the law.

Schenkel argued that his agency has been successful in protecting the city and people of Washington in recent years despite a lack of sufficient funding from the government. With more money, Schenkel said the FPS could increase the protection of the over 9,000 buildings they oversee the protection of yearly. Goldstein noted that despite a lack of proper equipment the GAO has improved training for police officers in recent years and is looking to continue to do so.

Today at Talk Radio News Service

Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner and our New York and UN correspondent Dan Patterson are currently in Sudan.

Legal Correspondent Jay Tamboli is on the look outs for upcoming FISA discussions.

Our Washington Bureau will cover the Foreign Education and Labor Committee hearing on “Insuring the Availability of Federal Student Loans” and it will also attend the House Armed Services Committee hearing on “Mental Health Overview.”

The President is out of town.

Back in the Saddle, Still on the road

The House is back and the Senate will be meeting pro forma for this first week of the first legislative session of 2008. There is still a bad taste in every one's mouth from the close of the last session and Bush's not-so-surprising veto over the break on the defense spending measure. The administration objected to a provision that might allow for victims of terrorism to bring lawsuits against the government of Iraq, leaving the Democratic House leadership to search for a quick fix and get the bill back to the president's desk before the Pentagon gets antsy about pay raises for service members. 

Two big interrelated E words to be aware of as this session gets rolling: Election and Economy. Members of congress tend to think and act differently in an election year, particularly in one where the economic outlook is "challenging" to say the least. The latest Gallup Poll shows that the economy was an increasingly important issue in the New Hampshire primary and forecasts that it will only continue to grow in importance as the nation marches toward Super Tuesday. The credit crunch, the housing market, the weak dollar, and the rising price of gas will be harder for Congress to ignore in this new session. Other leftovers include tax reform and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is still stuck on immunity for telecoms that helped the administration. FISA is currently running on an extension and the Senate will have about a week to address it after they return to act on the legislation before the law expires. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that success in this session would depend on whether "Bush Republicans" will choose to work with or against the Democrats. But the Democrats are not sending a warm welcome back to the Bush administration as they are expected to take up contempt-of-congress resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and White House Counsel Harriet Miers for their failure to appear before hearings in 2007. 

Meanwhile, things on the road are starting to look nastier than Congress, and that is quite a feat. Back and forth over the weekend about an ill-advised statement has led to even higher tensions in the triangular relationship between the Obama campaign, the Clinton campaign and the press. As much as political campaigns have progressed or appeared to progress issues of race and gender are still taking center stage over serious issues, though some sparring over Iraq was evident on the Democrat side. On the Republican side the focus was the economy and the "mini"recession of the state of Michigan. Mitt Romney is hoping to get a first place out of this primary, especially since he is a native son. Most speeches by Republicans in Detroit have focused on the auto industry and the disappearance of jobs from that sector. Romney is promising a roundtable on the auto industry with unions and industry leaders and reexamine jobs that some see as extinct.

And no matter where the U.S. automotive industry is going, it's been a heck of a road trip for us at Talk Radio News Service and it's only just begun.