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Officious Washington
As many of you know, I live on Capitol Hill, a part of Washington DC that also houses the Capitol, the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court (as well as Murky Coffee, the Best Damn Coffee in the world, Eastern Market, with the best blueberry pancakes in the world, and several other community-based centers of culture and deliciousness).
We often speak of the "two cities" that Washington, D.C. encompasses. First, for us, there is D.C.--urban, ethnically diverse, pulsing, hot and humid in the summer, gray and cold in the winter, full of piss and vinegar and the smells of exotic dishes from foreign lands, including the American rural south. D.C. is a city, a place where the police and the educators and the firefighters all work together--sometimes--to keep the whole thing from unravelling. NPR is headquartered here; so are the National Endowment for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and many other national centers and symbols.
Then there is Washington, home of the local industry, which is the U.S government. Many who live in D.C. work in Washington. It is the factory, the corporate HQ, the office building of the nation.
The relatonship between Washington and D.C. has always been full of "issues". D.C. residents have no voting representation in Congress, making us something like a colony. Many decisions about our laws and rights and responsibilities come from Members of Congress, who may not actually live in the District; who may peek out at it from their tinted limousine windows. But in general, there has been, at the very least, a relationship between the concerned citizens who live in D.C., and our neighbors who work for the federal government, federal agencies, museums, NPR, etc.
No more. In the past few weeks, the "plantation climate" of 150 years ago has reappeared, making it quite clear who lives in the "Big House" and who lives in the back 40.
Case in point: the remarks of one Kenneth Tomlinson in The Washington Post last week, in describing the appointment of one Patricia de Stacy Harrison as CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (Mr. Tomlinson is the Chair of the Board of CPB):
"We appreciate the concerns expressed from within the public broadcasting community." But he added, in an indirect defense of Harrison's candidacy, "We also appreciate the high regard some of our candidates have in official Washington."
"Official" Washington? That was a new one. Does that make the rest of us "unofficial" Washington? We knew we had no vote; apparently we can have no opinions either. Oh, and by the way, the rest of you are included in the wash.
Moving right along, we come to Congress itself. Note:
Judiciary GOP pulls the plug on Conyers 'forums'By Albert Eisele and Jeff Dufour
If the Financial Services Committee is the best in the House when it comes to bipartisan comity, then the Judiciary Committee may well be the worst.
In December, ranking Democrat John Conyers (Mich.) began holding “forums” — gatherings with all the trappings of official hearings — after Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) refused to hold hearings on topics Conyers requested. The forums have been held in smaller committee rooms, often with C-SPAN coverage and formal witness lists.
In a sign of how far relationships on the committee have soured, majority staff recently announced a new policy to deny any request from a committee Democrat for the use of a committee hearing room.
Majority spokesman Jeff Lungren said the Republicans have given Democrats three opportunities to make clear that the forums are not official committee business. Nevertheless, Lungren said, in at least one case, members were addressing Conyers as “Mr. Chairman.”
“They were unwilling or unable to make those changes,” Lungren said. “At this point, if they want to hold these forums, they’ll have to find some other place to do it.”
Sean McLaughlin, deputy chief of staff for Sensenbrenner, recently wrote to a minority staffer in more pointed language.
“I’m sitting here watching your ‘forum’ on C-SPAN,” McLaughlin wrote. “Just to let you know, it was your last. Don’t bother asking [for a room] again.”
A committee source said committee Democrats are still planning to hold the forums when they find other available space.
Welcome to the plantation, Americans. They'll be awful nice to you up at the Big House, if you can shuffle along quietly...
His rating are slipping, as his "lame duck" status shines the light on him - yet he managed to raise $23,000,000 in one day for his party.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5075926,00.html
& I hope they fix the huge typo in the title! (Are they using Bush's linguistic style now?!)
Bush's Problems Has Republicans Worried
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fearing that President Bush's political problems may become their own, Republicans in Congress and elsewhere are beginning to yearn for the good old days of seven months ago, when he had somebody to run against.
Voters were worried in November about the economy and the war in Iraq, but they didn't take it out on the incumbent on Election Day. They are now.
Bush's poll ratings are among the worst since he took office, declining in virtually every category since his win over Democratic Sen. John Kerry. From his handling of the economy, foreign policy and the war in Iraq to his job approval rating and voters' assessment of the country's direction, the president's political scores are in serious decline.
One reason is that voters are no longer judging him in comparison to Kerry. Bush, like other second-term presidents, is facing the prospect of lame-duck status. He's up against his own record, in a sense, and that's never an easy task.
``In a vacuum, all the dissatisfaction is put on the White House,'' said GOP consultant Charles Black, who argued that Bush should draw more attention to upbeat economic numbers.
The Bush campaign succeeded in its 2004 strategy - to make the election a referendum on Kerry and not the incumbent. Now, every day is a referendum on Bush.
(continue reading at the link)
It's Bush's war. Period.
Karen,
Just as you are implying, this goes beyond hubris. The Chairman of the committee has the "legal right", I suppose, to be a donkey (insert the more appropriate word). However, a government that officially sanctions burying the truth is doomed. I think I am witnessing the desperate last gasps of an administration and political party realizing that their reign is nearly over.
Posted by: not my president at June 15, 2005 09:39 AM
Interesting article. While reading it, I heard on the radio that the Dept. of Homeland Security is recommending Federal Government dictate the rules for guarding chemical plants. Interesting how John Kerry who made this recommendation during the campaign was made to seem unrealistic about the need for such intervention. Likewise, as the article says, the election was not a referendum on Bush, but rather on Kerry. However, I expect to hear more of John Kerry's policy recommendations become the "administration's" policy recommendations.
``In a vacuum, all the dissatisfaction is put on the White House,'' said GOP consultant Charles Black, who argued that Bush should draw more attention to upbeat economic numbers"
Upbeat economic numbers....that favor whom? Almost all jobs created are low wage no benefit levels. the money is siphoned up into corporate offices, not the people actually doing the work.
The economy is not getting better for Americans, it is getting better for American Corporations.
Legislation being passed in our government gives the wealthy tax breaks, funding, loopholes, offshore tax credits and more. It gives the middle and lower class the Bill for those perks.
We are watching the greatest transfer of wealth the Nation has ever witnessed, Taking From people breaking their backs and giving to people writing the laws.
At some point, people need to react.
Karen:
Thanks for the post. It's official. The majority party is trying to turn our nation's capital into a private country club.
ETHICS
Exxon Announces Merger With White House
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/
Yesterday, it was announced that the former chief of staff of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, Philip Cooney, who resigned five days ago after it was disclosed that he had doctored government climate change reports in favor of the oil industry's position, has been hired by Exxon Mobil. While Cooney will now sit at the other side of the table at the White House's energy meetings, his job will remain the same -- to do the bidding of the oil industry.
COONEY'S MAGIC MARKER ALTERED SCIENTIFIC REALITY:
Just last week, the Government Accountability Project, a public interest group that promotes government accountability, disclosed documents to the New York Times that showed Cooney "repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between [greenhouse gas] emissions and global warming." One of the sentences that Cooney crossed out stated the following: "[Global] warming also will cause reductions in mountain glaciers and advance the timing of the melt of mountain snow peaks in polar regions." Cooney, who has no scientific training, wrote a note stating that the section "stray[ed] from research strategy into speculative findings," a position which goes against the findings of the scientific community that the greenhouse effect is accelerating changes in the climate.
DOES ACCRUED VACATION TIME AT THE WHITE HOUSE CARRY OVER TO EXXON?:
Cooney chose to resign after the doctored reports became public. Instead of suggesting that it was ridding itself of a corporate crony, the White House went into a state of denial. White House spokesperson Dana Perino said his decision to leave was "completely unrelated" to the disclosure that he had made changes in several government climate reports, and that he had chosen to spend time with his family after having "accumulated many weeks of leave."
ONCE YOU GO OIL, YOU NEVER TURN BACK:
Prior to joining the White House staff, Cooney was a former oil industry lobbyist who worked as the head of the climate program at the American Petroleum Institute (API), the chief representative of the oil and gas industry. Exxon is a major member of the American Petroleum Institute, and its CEO is a director of API's Policy Committee. Documents disclosed from Vice President Cheney's secret energy task force meetings showed that the American Petroleum Institute provided substantial input in the draft of Bush's energy plan. Exxon purchased its seat at the table by contributing nearly $100,000 to President Bush. API has been a steadfast opponent of the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce the level of greenhouse gases created by industrialized nations over the next decade. While Exxon has claimed that its opposition to the Kyoto climate change pact is based on its view that the protocol is "flawed," the reality is, as the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, that Exxon is "openly and unapologetically" opposed to "the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming."
EXXON HAS WIELDED GREAT POWER IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION:
Prime Minister Tony Blair recently returned home to London after a meeting with President Bush to report that they were unable to reach consensus on how to address global warming and climate change. The reason Blair was unsuccessful was that he ended up butting heads with an even closer friend to Bush than himself -- Exxon. According to documents obtained and recently disclosed by The Guardian, Bush's decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 was due in part to pressure from Exxon. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobrianksy wrote memos to Exxon thanking them for their "active involvement" in helping to determine the administration's climate change policy. She was explicit in her praise: "Potus [President of the United States] rejected Kyoto in part based on input from you," she told Exxon. Exxon's relationship with Bush dates back to his days as governor of Texas, when he exempted big oil companies from a mandate that they clean up their emissions in favor of a voluntary program. The voluntary program was a concept pushed by Exxon at the time, and Exxon admitted that Bush had asked the company to "help develop the concepts" of the program.
REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND CORPORATE LOBBY CONTINUES TO SPIN:
Cooney is only the latest example of a Bush official using his government job to leverage a position working for the industry he once regulated. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft became the first AG to open up a K Street lobbying firm. Ashcroft is now making money advising clients on law enforcement and homeland security. Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans took a job with the Financial Services Forum, where he will lobby for the country's biggest financial services firms. And former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is now helping Savi Technology, a security technology firm, obtain grants from the federal government.++