Who’s Sorry Now?
As the feds get tougher, power players on Capitol Hill and K Street worry that the cozy is becoming criminal①
By Silla Brush
1. It was, no doubt, the most lavish bribery scheme Washington has en in recent years. Among the $
2.4 million in gifts Rep. Randy “Duke”Cunningham took in: $1 million in checks; a $200,000 down payment on a condominium near Washington; cash to help him buy a Rolls-Royce②; $9,200 for two Lar Shot shooting simulators③; $7,200 for two 19th-century commodes; and access to a 42-foot yacht named Duke-Stir. It all came courtesy of two New York financial companies and two small-time defen contractors looking for a leg up in the capital.④Cunningham, a former Navy ace, was ready to help. He ud his powerful at on a defen appropriations subcommittee⑤to steer millions of dollars in contracts to the firms once the bribes began in 2000. But however crooked the eight-term California Republican’s ways, his guilty plea ⑥last week is only the latest indication that Washington’s wheelings and dealings⑦are no longer just business as usual.
2. Only a week before, a former top aide to indicted Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay acknowledged bilking veral Indian tribes of over $80 million and providing gifts to public officials in exchange for favors. Michael Scanlon⑧’s partner: Jack Abramoff, the kingpin lobbyist at the heart of Washington’s most ominous federal probe. At least a dozen public officials and many more current or former aides are under investigation, and Scanlon’s testimony could help unravel a web of corruption.
3. Beyond the most egregious examples of bribery, like Cunningham’s, there are numerous indications--the ongoing investigations, the public’s low approval rating of Congress, and calls for reform--that too much money is now flowing in Washington’s backroom deals⑨between lobbyists and lawmakers. The questions now mounting aren’t new, but they’re getting louder: Where should the line be drawn on the role of money in politics? And when does campaign cash for “access”turn into bribery? ⑩Justice Department11procutors may be signaling in their recent cas that they’re drawing that line more tightly, creating new anxiety for lawmakers and lobbyists alike.
4. “There is nothing about today’s system that gives you confidence that the public interest is being rved,”says Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who has pushed for reforms to the lobbying laws. “It’s an institutional problem, and we need an institutional solution.”
5. Scandal cycle. Fueling the current climate is a surge in campaign contributions and lavish gifts to both parties. But of particular concern is the tightknit relationship that DeLay and a cadre of Republicans built with lobbyists as they assumed a rare level of power in Washington.
6. Stretching back beyond the Teapot Dome episode12that rocked the Warren Harding White Hou in the mid-1920s, bribery scandals are nothing new in Washington. “It’s like the locusts; they come every 15 years,”says Stan Brand, a Washington lawyer who reprented Hou Democrats. In the 1970s, South Korean businessman Tongsun Park, with Korean intelligence officials, helped funnel money to lawmakers in an effort to gain support for South Korea. Park faced more than 30 counts of conspiracy, bribery, and fraud (charges later dropped as part of a plea agreement13). Several members of Congress were hauled before ethics committees14, and some were charged in criminal proceedings. In the early 1980s Abscam15affair, six reprentatives and a nator were convicted of bribery, conspiracy, and other charges after videotapes showed the lawmakers accepting cash from FBI agents posing as Arab sheiks. A decade later, Charles Keating gave $1.4 million to five lawmakers in order to dissuade the Senate Banking Committee16from investigating his savings and loan.
7.Hill truce17. Congress itlf showed some teeth18when ethics abus led to the eventual toppling
of Democratic Speaker of the Hou Jim Wright in 1989 and eight years later to ethics reprimands for Newt Gingrich, then Republican speaker of the Hou. That 1997 episode prompted a ven-year truce between Democrats and Republicans over investigations by the Hou Ethics Committee. The current cas come not from congressional investigators but down Constitution Avenue19at the Justice Department. “I think Justice has woken up and en what a mess Congress is,” says Melanie Sloan, a former federal procutor and director of Citzens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington20, a watchdog group. “And Congress has made it abundantly clear that they aren’t going to police themlves.”
8. K Street, lobbyist row in Washington, is worried that the Scanlon ca may signal a change in the rules of the game. The Justice Department is now looking not only into personal bribes, like the gifts in the Cunningham ca, but also campaign contributions. In Scanlon’s plea agreement, procutors identify $14,000 in campaign contributions given on behalf of Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican, allegedly in exchange for acts by the congressman, such as submitting statements for the Congressional Record.21
9.“The concept of even putting a political contribution in the list of benefits conferred on a public official in a plea agreement is highly unusual,” says Ken Gross, an expert on congressional ethics. “T
here are cas going back years where political contributions are simply not considered as bribes or official benefits. Unless you saw some hard-core, heavy evidence of criminal conduct, it didn’t enter the realm.22”
10. Every night in Washington, some lobbyist is raising money--sometimes big money--for congressional friends. “Lobbyists give money to guys [reprentatives and nators] who help them,”says one prominent lobbyist, “but I don’t believe in most cas that there is a quid pro quo.23” But, he quickly adds: “Everybody is biting their nails over this nonn24. My worry is that procutors will now say, ‘You made a contribution to this congressman, and he did something that benefits you. I am going to charge you, and let’s e what a jury says.’“
11. William Canfield, a lawyer who reprents Republican lawmakers on federal election and ethics issues, says Congress “started criminalizing federal election law”when it pasd the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, signed into law in 2002. “The slippery slope began with McCain-Feingold,” he maintains. “There are criminal provisions in the law for violations of campaign finance that never existed before.”
12. Lawmakers, like the dozens who received Abramoff campaign contributions around the time they
wrote letters beneficial to Abramoff’s clients, defend themlves by saying that their actions are nothing more than the status quo in Washington. Still, that murky climate has prompted some lawmakers to push for reforms to the lobbying laws. “Years ago, we dealt with the relationship between contributor and candidate,” says Emanuel, referring to the McCain-Feingold legislation25. “Now we need to reform the relationship between lobbyists and legislators.” That’s something the Hou of Reprentatives hasn’t done in a decade. But then again, it has been over a decade since Congress has had a scandal like the one on the horizon.26
From
December 12,2005
①As the feds get tougher, power players on Capitol Hill and K Street worry that the cozy is becoming criminal. 由于联邦司法机构规定更加严厉，国会议员与公关公司权力游戏者担心彼此亲密交往将会成为犯罪活动。[Fed---AmE (informal) an officer of the Federal Justice Department; cozy--- too clo and friendly]
②Rolls-Royce：劳斯莱斯牌（豪华）轿车
③Lar Shot shooting simulators：Lar Shot公司造的射击模拟器
热潮红④It all came courtesy of two New York financial companies and two small-time defen contractors looking for
沉香养生a leg up in the capital. 这都是两家纽约金融公司和两家寻求在首都发展得到帮助的不起眼的国防工程承包商所孝敬的。[leg up---- (informal) help; small-time----(informal) not successful; courtesy of …----provided by … to show politeness and respect]
⑤defen appropriations subcommittee：国防拨款小组委员会
⑥guilty plea：认罪
⑦wheelings and dealings：a lot of complicated and sometimes slightly dishonest deals, especially in politics or business
漫画美少女由来千岁⑧Michael Scanlon: a lobbyist, public relations consultant and former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges on November 21, 2005. Scanlon’s public relations firm, Capitol Campaign Strategies, received millions of dollars from tribes involved in gambling casinos, funneling the money to conrvative caus and Republican party organizations through a network of political consultants and right-wing organizations linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
⑨backroom deals --- cret and dishonest deals
⑩And when does campaign cash for “access” turn into bribery?用提供选金方式“找门路”这一做法到什么程度就成为贿赂？
11Justice Department 司法部
12Teapot Dome episode：茶壶盖丑闻[指1921年哈丁政府的内政部长受贿30万美元将海军石油基地出租给私营石油商事件]
13charges later dropped as part of a plea agreement：这几条指控在后来双方协议中作为认罪交换条件而被删除了
14Several members of Congress were hauled before ethics committees：几名国会议员被送交道德委员会审查15Abscam：阿伯斯坎姆案（20世纪80年代初美联邦调查局特工伪装阿拉伯人向国会议员行贿诱捕一案的代号）
16the Senate Banking Committee：参议院金融委员会
17Hill truce：国会两党的休战[Hill---Capitol Hill; Congress]
18Congress itlf showed some teeth: 国会表现出一些愤怒情绪
19Constitution Avenue 宪法大道
20Citzens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington：华盛顿公民捍卫责任与道德团体
21submitting statements for the Congressional Record：给国会议事录提交报告
22Unless you saw some hard-core, heavy evidence of criminal conduct, it didn’t enter the realm.如果你抓不
到大量过硬的犯罪证据，（案子）就不会纳入收贿范畴。
23quid pro quo：（Latin）something that you give or do in exchange for sth. el, especially when this arrangement is not official
24Everybody is biting their nails over this nonn. 这件荒唐的事搞得人人坐立不安。（bite one’s nail--- to feel worried）
25McCain-Feingold legislation：麦凯恩-费恩戈尔德法案[该法案于2002年由美国国会通过。该法律取
消对政党的软款项捐款，规定：预选前30天内或大选前60天内电视、广播和网络播出竞选宣传的广告经费必须公开]
26on the horizon：likely to happen soon
Analysis of the content:
1. Among the cas mentioned in the article, which one may signal a policy change concerning the
deals between lobbyists and congressmen?
A. the Scanlon Ca
祝福语大全B. the Gingrich Ca
C. the Delay Ca
D. the Cunningham Ca
2. Of all the people mentioned in the article, who is the most critical of the original lobbying laws?
A. Gross
B. Canfield
C. Abramoff
D. Emanuel
遗传学之父3. It can be inferred from the article that in the past the backroom deals between lobbyists and Congressmen ______.
A. were rare
B. were absolutely forbidden
C. were not considered as rious crimes
D. received no public attention
4. The new reforms are intended to solve the problem of dishonest relationship between ______.
A. interest groups and lobbyists
B. lobbyists and legislators
C. law enforcement officials and congressmen
D. lobbyists and candidates
5. From the article we know that McCain-Feingold legislation deals with the relationship between ________.
A. interest groups and lobbyists
B. contributors and candidates
C. lobbyists and legislators
D. voters and candidates
Questions on the Article:
1.According to the author, who feel worried now? Why?窦娥
2.What crime is Cunningham accud of?
3.Why is the Scalon ca considered the most ominous one?
画ppt4.Why did William Carfield say “Congress started criminalizing federal election law”?
5.How do you explain Stan Brand’s statement: “It’s like the locusts: they come every 15 years.?
6.What do the backroom deals between lobbyists and congressmen refer to?
Topics for Discussion:
1.Should lobbying be allowed to exist as advertising?
2.Can lobbying be eliminated in the U.S. ?
