The Really Bad Republican Party Reputation Problem
The Republican Party as the Party of Scandal: A Tale of (No) Congressional Ethics.
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Before we begin, here is some news on student loan forgiveness in a renewed commitment by President Biden to one of his 2020 campaign promises. Not the first time that an important campaign promise like this has been fulfilled.
The vestiges of New Jersey’s Tammany Hall-like political machine might be heading to an end. Check out its history and the recent news this past weekend.
The thinking by leaders like Howard Dean and Simon Rosenberg aligns perfectly with what the Democratic Party should do for empowering progressives and the grassroots, supporting the state parties in all 50 states, standing up for Fair Maps in the courts (especially in the South), diversifying candidate recruitment, expanding the party coalition and electoral map further into Trump Country, and taking campaign messaging right to the GOP home turf of Fox News and talk radio.
Meanwhile, the Republican House has once again gone on vacation without finalizing Ukraine aid. Who knew the GOP could do so little with so much time on their hands, with more recesses and vacations than actual work days? By the way, Speaker Pro Tempore McHenry may want to get ready to take the gavel again.
There is also a Trump Bible promotion. Not a joke.
But seriously. With all the dysfunction in place, including another possible vacate the chair motion by QAnon Squad member Marjorie Taylor Greene, no wonder Congress’s approval rating has hit an all-time low, as Secretary of Labor Robert Reich pointed out in his most recent post.
Which brings us to the larger question of congressional ethics. Most people know Congress—and government in general—has had a problematic relationship with ethics. Today, we have Senator Bob Menendez, whose voters in New Jersey gave him more than enough second chances to do better, having elected him in 2006, 2012, and 2018 under difficult circumstances. Although he might now run for reelection in 2024 as an Independent, he is not likely to come back to town after this year.
Democrats, to be sure, have had their hand in legal controversies over the years and decades—no question about it. In my home state of Rhode Island, plenty of top Democrats in the General Assembly have run into trouble with the law. In DC—besides obviously Menendez—we also have the example of former Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney, who tried to quiet a mistress with hush money.
Yet it still seems the Republican Party has a much harder time adhering to congressional ethics—or even respecting them at all.
We all remember as the George Santos drama took hold in early 2023, after the 15-ballot-round Speaker’s election. Another development, however, caught much less spotlight. At around the same time, the House GOP decided to gut funding to the Office of Congressional Ethics—which played a central role in investigating the many, many, many, many Santos scandals.
For expert government watchdogs, this decision to cut off the Office of Congressional Ethics funding was a major red flag when it was first reported to be in the GOP’s rules package for the House of Representatives (Democrats held the Senate). The key agency for keeping an eye on lawmakers was now at the whim of Republican partisans—mainly, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
For the GOP, the attack on this institution made perfect sense. Some in the GOP might make an argument about the “Deep State” to explain the budget cut. Another reason, though, might provide a better sense of the Republican Party’s real intentions.
That is, the Republican Party has simply ditched ethical governance in circumstances where it means losing power. Contrast the Republican response to George Santos and the Democrat response to Bob Menendez. Senate Democrats came out in droves almost immediately (at least 31 as of today) to call for Menendez’s resignation, and forced him out of power in other ways. All this led Menendez to see that he could no longer run for his Senate seat as a Democrat. He was no longer a welcome member of the Democratic Party (ironically, the Senate GOP has been rather silent on Menendez).
The House GOP, on the other hand, stuck close with Santos. Speaker McCarthy stalled any expulsion efforts, and actually was ready to award Santos committee assignments until he was directly called out on it by House Democrats. Many others in GOP leadership defended Santos too, and forcefully opposed any punishments for Santos whatsoever.
In truth, House leaders had more concern for the fate of their very slim House majority (their fault) than about Santos’s conduct—of making up his own stories, faking his own identity, deceiving his entire district, defrauding campaign donors, and scamming regular people like a homeless disabled veteran with a sickly service dog. It was ultimately more important to protect Santos than do right by the American people.
Remarkably, the Santos scandal barely scratches the surface of Republican controversies over the years. Senators Kelly Loeffler (GA), David Perdue (GA), and Richard Burr (NC), were among the most prolific stock traders in all of Congress—particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. Burr even had to give up a few of his most notable committee assignments on account of that one.
Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York ran into legal trouble with insider trading and lying to the FBI. Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. of California had to resign from office after campaign finance law violations. Both almost lost their seats in the 2018 blue wave. Regardless, in reward for their loyalty to the MAGA wing of the GOP, Donald Trump himself pardoned both men in December of 2020 (just like he commuted the sentence of convicted felon Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier that year).
Let’s not forget the Republican scandals farther back into the past. How about the scandals that rocked the 2006 midterms? One operation implicated a high-profile and well-known GOP lobbyist named Jack Abramoff. He was prosecuted by the Justice Department in a scandal that entangled several Republican members of Congress, including Montana Senator Conrad Burns, Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, and California Congressman Richard Pombo. Then-House Majority leader Tom DeLay was also a part of that infamous group, and resigned because on an unrelated legal issue related to campaign money laundering in Texas.
Another scandal centered around Congressman Mark Foley, who sent illicit, sexually-provocative messages to teenage Capitol Hill pages. This scandal also entangled multiple congressmen, as the GOP leadership at that time (including Speaker Dennis Hastert, and House GOP Campaign Chair Tom Reynolds) failed to disclose earlier warnings of Foley’s issues despite prior instances; others like Congresswoman Sue Kelly lost reelection from connections to that scandal.
In yet another sex-related scandal, Congressman Don Sherwood got in trouble for a hush money scheme relating to his mistress. Eventually, he acknowledged his extramarital affair—though he denied the mistress choking accusations. Either way, a shining example of the Republican Party’s commitment to “family values.”
Then there are your more run-of-the-mill corruption cases. Congressman Curt Weldon’s office was raided by the FBI in connection to his daughter’s lobbying activities. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted in a public corruption case, a matter which caused him to narrowly lose election in 2008 (well, at least some Republicans back then cared about corruption).
And finally, we have the interesting story of Oliver North. Despite being involved in the infamous Reagan-era Iran-Contra Affair, North only narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Senate in 1994 because of a major fracturing in Republican Party support.
Thus, the scandals of Santos are part of a much larger pattern, that traces back well into the pre-Trump era. The many Republican scandals of the early 2010s and mid-2000s arguably laid the groundwork for the Trump takeover of the Republican Party—and the corruption that followed it. So when it comes to ethics, do not forget the GOP’s notorious track record on congressional ethics—and government ethics in general.
Is this really the party that is going to determine whether President Joe Biden should be impeached? For accusations brought forth by witnesses charged with lying to the FBI, and other witnesses still in federal prison to this day? This is the party that turns a blind eye to the ongoing controversies over the Trump Family’s business dealings?
Nice try, Republicans. We’ll see whether it flies with voters in November. I wouldn’t get your hopes up though.