If you’re ever asked to define the word oxymoron, just say “Congressional ethics.” People instinctively burst out guffawing at the absurdity of linking Congress to upright behavior.
But surprisingly, Republican congressional leaders say they’re now taking a bold stand for a little less corruption among their own members, targeting lawmakers who’ve been secretly enriching themselves through “insider stock trading.”
Actually, the leaders were forced to support this bit of reform because of public outrage over the dirty dealing of Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA). This multimillionaire Republican was caught using his insider position last year to profit from the GOP’s gutting of Medicaid benefits for poor people.
So recently, the party’s designated ethics watchdog, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), rose on his hind legs to introduce the Stop Insider Trading Act. “If you want to trade stocks,” Steil howled in operatic outrage, “go to Wall Street.”
Bravissimo! Except it was a fraud.
Far from stopping the self-enriching stock scams of lawmakers like Bresnahan, Steil’s bill basically legalizes their corrupt transactions. For example, members could still keep or sell their stocks in corporations they supposedly oversee.
Then, showing his party’s true colors, Steil exclaimed that we outsiders should not even push Congress to pass an honest, outright ban on insider trading — because that would discourage wealthy business executives from choosing to enter “public service.”
Well, that gives us two reasons to demand a ban: first, to impose a minimal ethical standard on lawmakers, and second, to shoo off self-serving monopolists and plutocrats from controlling the public’s agenda.
