We Couldn't Make This Stuff Up

Here is an op-ed from David Sirota, a liberal writer, about Democrat hypocrisy in Washington. It talks about how Democrats seek political contributions from special interests in Washington and are crowing about it at the same time they are criticizing Republicans (or in Obey's case, introducing legislation).

Here's an excerpt:

"Today's example is in Roll Call. House Democrats, who have attacked the GOP's "culture of corruption," deliberately placed a story in Roll Call headlined "House Democrats Redouble Wooing of K Street." The story was likely placed by the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), as he is front and center bragging about the effort. Here's the excerpt:

"A House Democratic project designed to dip into deep K Street wallets entered its second phase of the 2006 cycle Tuesday, as a group of prominent moderate Members enlisted business donors to shell out thousands of dollars to help the party’s top-tier candidates. Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.), along with Reps. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), John Tanner (Tenn.) and Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), met Tuesday afternoon with roughly 50 business-minded Democratic consultants, lobbyists and corporate officers to get them to commit to writing checks to their most worthy party hopefuls next year. The same group spent the better half of 2005 raising money from the same set of donors for the most vulnerable House Democratic incumbents. 'House Democrats are in a good position to make significant gains in next year’s election, so it’s an important time to work with our friends downtown to remind them we have common goals and that they have a stake in helping to elect Democrats,' Hoyer said."

In case you thought that Democrats aren't deliberately publicizing their efforts to shakedown corporate lobbyists - just look at Steny Hoyer's taxpayer-funded Minority Whip website (linked below). Members of Congress always put up stories promoting themselves - and here, incredibly, Hoyer is actually promoting a story about his work setting up a formalized system of legalized bribery - as if the story itself is a trophy to be flaunted."

This story goes on to say that Obey is being "courageous" for going after special interests. Maybe we'll send the writer a link to our blog and to Go Nick Go because it's pretty clear that Dave Obey has a pretty cozy relationship with special interests in DC.