Common Cause Blog :: Ethics Training -- Optional

Ethics Training -- Optional

By Ed Davis
Posted on Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 05:05:58 PM EST

As you can see on our homepage, we're not too happy with the Republican leadership's package of lobby/ethics reforms. Looking through the summary, this minor item stuck out:

Sec. 502 - Requires mandatory ethics training for employees, new employees must complete training within in 30 days. Members encouraged, but not required, to take ethics training.(my emphasis)

Ethics training by itself won't solve the problems, but making it voluntary sends a message -- ethics is not a priority for busy Members of Congress. Of course, we know that, but you would think a reform package would at least strive to send a better message.

Tags: Ethics in Government (all tags)

Ethics Training -- Optional :: 7 Comments

Ed Davis unhappy with Republicans

In Mr. Davis' most recent blog he informs us that the CC staff is unhappy with the Republicans, he writes: "As you can see on our homepage, we're not too happy with the Republican leadership's package of lobby/ethics reforms."

Is this a real surprise to anyone, this is the same group of writers who attacked ABC for showing a movie that portrayed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in a negative light, but said nothing about all of Michael Moore's lies in his movie that portrayed Republican president George Bush in a negative light.

"Ed Davis is just a Democratic mouthpiece."

by el profeta misterioso on Sat Mar 18, 2006 at 07:22:31 PM EST

In his dreams.....

If Ed were just a Democratic party mouthpiece, it would mean the Democrats are standing up for real ethics reform and accountability. That would be fantastic. But they're not. Both sides of the aisle have a couple members who are making serious proposals, but the leadership of both parties is avoiding real action. Most of the rank-and-file aren't willing to buck that yet.

CC's mission is to hold power accountable, and that means publicizing the fact that those in power aren't doing right by their constituents. So try this instead: "Ed Davis is just a democratic mouthpiece."

(And about the anti-Kerry movie vs. Michael Moore's movies: I'm pretty sure this group would have been fine with movie-goers paying to see an anti-Kerry film in the theatre, and would have equally opposed Sinclair Broadcasting forcing their 62 locally-owned affiliates to broadcast Fahrenheit 9/11. The objection was to the preemption of local broadcasting and to the dangerous precedent set by the use of publicly-owned airwaves for partisan propaganda.
)

by Dave Algoso on Sun Mar 19, 2006 at 10:51:59 AM EST

Re: In his dreams.....

Well it looks like Ed "The Democrat" Davis called his good buddy and fellow Liberal Dave Algoso in to back him up. Kind of reminds me of the Dan Rather Scandal during the elections, when Dan's fellow left-wing newsman Tom Brokaw came in to try to cover up for Rather's dishonest and biased reporting on Dubya. How pathetic is that. Does Dave really believe writing some weak response to the first comment is going to convince the intelligent members of Common Cause that Ed who is a member of the Democratic party (correct me if I'm wrong Ed) is just writing fair unbiased articles.

This website is full of partisan propaganda. CC holds politicians they do not like responsible but ignore the ones they do like. How easily they forgot the racist comments by New Orleans mayor,Democrat Ray Nagin just a couple months ago. Did they start a petition to have this bigot removed from office, OF COURSE NOT, why you might ask, because he is a Democrat. Just like the Common Cause staff are all Democrats.

Ed Davis, next time be a man and stand up for yourself don't call your friend Dave in to cover for you.

by La Perla on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 06:31:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: In his dreams.....

La Perla- What part of my "weak response" was incorrect? And furthermore, what part was "Liberal"? Maybe you just enjoy incoherently ranting your same tired belief that CC is shilling for the Democrats, but I'd prefer if you make substantive comments backed up by facts.

Has CC ever called for a Republican to resign over racist comments? Not to my knowledge. So why do you seem to think it's meaningful that CC did not call for Nagin's resignation?

Care to explain why you selectively ignore that CC sided with a Republican Governor on redistricting reform in California, and advocated federal ethics reforms alongside the American Enterprise Institute's Norm Ornstein? Unless Arnie and the scholars at AEI are closet Democrats.

Come on, La Perla, let's have a real dialogue. If you have a gripe with CC's policies or methods, tell us the details instead of just attacking Ed's manhood. And, to head you off at the pass, I'll tell you right now that I'm not a Democrat.

by Dave Algoso on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 03:28:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

In his dreams ..............

Looks like La Perla wrote a very emotional response to Ed Davis comments, maybe a little to much emotional response and not enough of thinking about the issue at hand, she's a perfect candidate to join the League of Women Voters or the National Organization of Woman (NOW). Although I'm sure some sexist feminist or liberal will call me sexist for attacking La Perla or LWV that's their common mantra.

Although I do agree with her on one issue, Ed should have responded to her accusations not had his friend Dave Algoso stick up for him. Why doesn't Ed just come out and say "Hey I'm a Democrat (if he is?) but I feel like what I'm writing is unbiased and not politically motivated or something, rather than avoid this issue. I suspect Ed is a closet Democrat, but hey I could be wrong?

Dave Algoso: I'm curious if your not a Democrat what political party do you belong to and who did you vote for in the last presidential election? I hope you aren't going to hide your political affiliations. I think Ralph Nader was the best man for the job, not Bush or Kerry. But that's just my opinion.

by Nadersupporter on Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 01:01:11 AM EST

Re: In his dreams ..............

I guess I should have clarified this too, but I figured it went without saying: Ed never asked me to stick up for him. I'm pretty sure he's a busy guy so I don't know if he's even still following this thread. Look, it's a blog. Someone made a comment, and I responded. Note also that my comment, which La Perla attacked as me defending Ed, was in response to a post from El Profeta. So by Perla's logic, Profeta is guilty of the same lack of manliness as Ed. But that's Perla's logic. My stance is: this is a conversation, anyone can respond to anyone's comments and it's all fair game.

As for myself, I'm not a member of any political party. Independents like me make up about 1/3 of the country. And I don't think who I voted for in 2004 counts as my "political affiliation", but I know that you'll go crazy if I don't tell you, so let's say for the sake of argument that I voted for Kerry. So did 6% of self-identified Republicans and 15% of self-identified conservatives (see CNN's exit polls). What's that prove? That I'm probably not a Republican or a conservative? I could have told you that. I'm also not a Democrat or a liberal. I was living in California at the time, so the idiocy of the Electoral College pretty much guaranteed that my vote wasn't going to have an impact anyway.

Here's my political affiliation: Our money-driven, winner-take-all political system encourages partisanship and discourages reasoned discussion on how to make our country a better place. It becomes "us-vs-them" and most of the people involved in politics are primarily interested in knowing which side you fall on, so that they know whether to agree with you or to attack you; meanwhile, a majority of the public tunes out altogether because they think that their involvement in the system won't change anything. And they're right, unless we reduce the influence of both rich conservative corporate CEOs and rich liberal Hollywood elite; end partisan gerrymandering in red Texas and in blue California; and establish a news media conducive to well-reasoned debate and intelligent discourse rather than sensationalism, simplistic one-liners, and explosions.

by Dave Algoso on Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 11:33:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I'm back

No, I'm not a member of the Democratic Party, though I have voted for Dems more often than Repubs. I do vote for my Republican Congressman, who often does things I agree with -- like supporting voting representation in Congress for DC citizens or supporting our local Little League, which I was prez of for awhile. I know my views on various issues are not doctrinaire Democratic. Read my words, don't worry about who I vote for.

by Ed Davis on Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 01:02:35 PM EST

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Ethics Training -- Optional

By Ed DavisPosted on Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 05:05:58 PM EST

By Ed Davis
Posted on Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 05:05:58 PM EST