Peter Schweizer’s hot-selling book, “Throw Them All Out,” is a hard-hitting, thoroughly documented expose of insider trading activities by members of Congress. Starring roles are filled by such worthies as former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and former House Committee on Financial Services ranking member Spencer Bachus, the Republican who now chairs the same panel. According to Schweizer, Pelosi and her husband made millions participating in a special invitation Initial Public Offering from VISA at the same time legislation critical to the credit card company was before Congress. Kerry added to Teresa Heinz’ millions by trading on insider information he got while on the Senate Finance Committee. Hastert profited big-time by getting an earmark to build a highway that doubled the value of land in which he had previously invested. Bachus fattened his bank account with stock deals he made during the 2008 financial crisis. What makes these blatant examples of getting richer on public service so galling, of course, is the fact that Pelosi, Kerry, Hastert and Bachus can’t be prosecuted for violating the laws against insider trading that would send corporate executives to jail. As they have with the federal Freedom of Information Act, members of Congress are exempt from such enforcement. They and members of their staffs are free to make millions on information they get by virtue of being in Congress, whether ordinary citizens like it or not.
That doesn’t mean, however, that complaints cannot be brought against them with the House and Senate ethics authorities for abusing the public trust or creating the appearance of conflicts of interest. And that raises an interesting question, particularly for Tea Party members of Congress: Why haven’t they filed such complaints, if for no other reason than to further highlight the hypocrisy of congressional ethics enforcement? Dozens of those Republicans who were elected in 2010, supposedly as “outsiders,” have been strangely quiet on this issue. What other issue more effectively illustrates the need to, as Schweizer pungently puts it, throw them all out and rid Congress of the stench of corruption?
Tea Party Republicans in Congress have also expressed frustration at their inability to reform federal spending, debt and entitlements. Their impatience is understandable, but the Constitution wisely forces reform movements like the Tea Party to win successive elections. Doing that requires continuously reminding voters of what must be done to fix things. Filing ethics complaints and publicizing them at every opportunity would serve that purpose admirably.
It wouldn’t hurt, either, for Tea Party Republicans in Congress to remind their colleagues that the Constitution gives the Senate and House of Representatives authority to discipline representatives and senators as required to maintain public trust. That means the recent huffing and puffing about the alleged difficulties of passing complicated new laws explicitly banning insider trading by members is a purposeful delay until the issue goes away. With public approval of Congress at record lows, however, it’s more likely they will be going away long before the issue of congressional corruption does.
