Good to see Mark Dayton isn't wasting his dwindling time in the Senate. From the NY Times:
The issue is among those likely to be debated on Tuesday, when the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration meets to draft changes to the lobbying law. Senator Mark Dayton, Democrat of Minnesota and a member of the rules committee, is furious with Mr. [John] Thune [(R-SD)] over the rail project, and intends to propose language imposing a two-year ban on lawmakers' getting "personally and substantially" involved in matters affecting former clients."This makes some of the Jack Abramoff deals look like penny ante," said Mr. Dayton, who has a prominent constituent, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., that is fighting the rail expansion. "It's the most despicable special-interest deal I've ever seen in all my 30 years in government."
What's he angry about?
As a lobbyist in 2003 and 2004, Mr. Thune earned $220,000 from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, a small but ambitious company in South Dakota. The railroad hopes to rebuild and rehabilitate 1,300 miles of track, the nation's largest proposed railroad expansion in more than a century.Now, as a junior senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune is working to make that happen [...]
Last year, his first in the Senate, Mr. Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project. The loan has yet to be approved; Mr. Thune said he was trying to promote economic development in his home state.
Sounds pretty bad. I mean, it's par for the course for the GOP, but this seems especially blatant. Personally, I think a two-year ban is far too little, but it's a start, at least.
The Dems need to hammer the Repubs on ethics, and keep up the pressure. Since he's not running for re-election, Mark Dayton's got nothing to lose by going after this type of thing hard. I say they shut down the Senate until America gets a real debate on ethics reform.
P.S.: What has Normie been doing all this time? Grandstanding (with hilarious crony-on-crony results!) ... abusing the public trust ... and the public in general ... but let's not forget, he's great at leading prayer breakfasts.
2 more years, buddy.
Posted by smit2174 at February 28, 2006 12:34 AM | TrackBack
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