A record to be proud of
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:22 p.m., November 19, 2007
Updated 01:22 p.m., November 19, 2007
Even before the scandals of Jack Abramoff, noted for lavishly entertaining useful members of Congress, people were getting weary of the congressional gravy train. Some members of Congress seemed all too willing to accept expensive favors from people who could hope to benefit from legislation.
Abramoff took lobbying excess to a new level. Although lesser lobbyists might spring for a weekend in Florida, Abramoff would fly his special friends across the Atlantic to play a round of golf at St. Andrews.
When the scandal finally broke and the lobbyist began naming names, a chill wind blew through Congress. As reputations and careers crashed, those members of the House and Senate who had never had dealings with Abramoff — by far a majority of the members — were shaken by the apparent ease with which the lobbyist bought influence.
The scandal put Congress in a mood for soul-searching.
One of the results of that soul-searching is that members of Congress are doing much less traveling on other people’s money. The Associated Press reported last week that members of the Kansas congressional delegation are hardly accepting any trips at all.
In fact, there have been only two such trips this year by Kansans. Rep. Todd Tiahrt accepted a paid trip to Springfield, Mo., to give a talk at Evangel University and Rep. Nancy Boyda let the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce pay for her trip from Topeka to Kansas City, Kan., to look at economic progress there.
Compared to Abramoff’s excursions to Scotland, Tiahrt and Boyda’s trips look like a walk to the corner and back.
As for Emporia’s member of Congress, Rep. Jerry Moran hasn’t done any traveling this year on other people’s money. he didn’t do any in 2005, either. Last year, he accepted two trips — one to give a speech in Colorado Springs to the Kansas Bankers Association and one to give a speech in Memphis, Tenn., to the Delta Council, which deals with economic development in the Mississippi Delta.
The travel report indicates that all of the members of the Kansas delegation — Republicans and Democrats, Senate and House — take their responsibility to the people of the state seriously and are careful to avoid even the appearance of impropriety as they carry out their duties.
Kansas can be proud of its people in Washington.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
Thanks,and interesting reading.But it's a nine-day old edited,and condensed version of an article in another Kansas newspaper.
November 23, 2007 at 10:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )