Politico's The Crypt: Senator Ted Stevens Threatens to Block Ethics Bill in Senate

[flpoljunkie]

Stevens threatens to block ethics bill

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, whose home back in Alaska was raided by federal investigators Monday in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, has threatened to place a hold on the Democratic-drafted ethics legislation just passed by the House and expected on the Senate floor by week’s end.

The senator told a closed session of fellow Republicans today, including Vice President Dick Cheney, that he was upset that the measure would interfere with his travel to and from Alaska – and vowed to block it.

And Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), confirming Steven’s threat, said bluntly: “There could be a lot of holds on this bill.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0707/Stevens_threatens_to_block_lobbying_bill_.html

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

1. Hey ted

Go pound oil-rich sand up your arse.

The rest of the Repugs that choose to vote against this bill: PLEASE go ahead! Give us more fuel for the funerary pyres of your political careers. Sacks of crap, one and all.

[MiniMe]

2. Of course there could be a lot of holds on the bill. The repukes have no ethics.

[napi21]

3. Can one or two Senators put a hold on a bill? I know ONE can put a hold on

a nominee. They used to do that all the time with Clinton was Prez, but I don't remember hearing about being able to do that wiht a bill?

[flpoljunkie]

6. Yes, and they can do it "anonymously," as well.

[Old and In the Way]

4. hmmmm...threaten to interfere with his travel to/from Alaska?

Will his arraignment be in Anchorage? I don't see where these 2 issues (travel and ethics) are linked. Can't he at least be honest and say that this law will make things worse for him? I can understand why the Republican Crime Syndicate would hold this legislation, just hope the American voting public can connect the dots...

[cui bono]

5. I don't know what he's so worried about...

surely it won't affect his travel from his bunk to his cellmate's bunk.

[Supersedeas]

7. this ought to be one of the top stories of the day -- not so in Corp Media land

[napi21]

8. I've heard this story on CNN & MSNBC and on several different shows on each chnnel.

I don't know about the reg. ABC, CBS, NBC. I don't watch them anymore.

[flpoljunkie]

9. NYT Editorial Calls for Senate to Pass S.1, which passed yesterday in the House, 411-8

August 1, 2007

Editorial
Coming Clean in the Capitol

It took a while, and the process certainly hasn’t been pretty, but the Democrats are close to winning passage of their long-promised ethics reform bill. We suspect it will take a lot more than one new law to break the binding and corrupting ties of lobbyist cash and politics. But the bill, which the House approved with overwhelming, bipartisan enthusiasm yesterday, is a good start.

If the Senate needs further impetus to follow, federal agents supplied it Monday when they raided the Alaska home of Senator Ted Stevens. Mr. Stevens, who denies any wrongdoing, has the distinction of being the longest-serving Republican in the Senate’s history. Unfortunately, when it comes to getting caught up in an investigation of political corruption, he’s just one in a long bipartisan line.

One of the important aims of the new legislation is to let the public see for itself how much money is being traded for access. For the first time, the lavish torrent of campaign money from eager lobbyists to grateful politicians would have to be reported quarterly to the public via the Internet, with tighter scrutiny and penalties for violators. The reports would highlight lobbyists’ so-called bundling, the massing of individual donations into eye-popping packages for politicians and their party committees.

And the bill would require that all earmarks — those budget-busting pet projects that fall like manna from heaven — as well as who’s sponsoring them be identified on the Internet before final passage. The bill would also curb such abuses as corporate-paid gifts and travel. It would end lobbyist-sponsored galas “honoring” ranking politicians at national conventions. It would even ban the ludicrous pensions now being paid to Congressional alumni doing prison time for felonies.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/opinion/01wed1.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

House roll call vote: http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2007&rollnumber=763