CONGRESS GETS A CLEANSING FROM SELF INDUCED SCANDAL
As the nation focuses on the Senate’s upcoming vote on Judge Samuel Alito, the biggest issue in Congress is being played out behind closed doors. Americans can bet that there is a lot of horse trading going on and countless number of Congressmen that are currently hedging their bets. Not only are members jockeying for leadership positions, but many are fighting for their political lives.
There is no telling how many members of Congress will be affected by the actions of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It may be safe to assume that Abramoff is currently negotiating a deal that reduces his prison time for some colorful information about the actions of our representatives. Already, there are changes afoot in the top echelons of the Republican leadership in the House, but the real question is how many Representatives will lose their seats by the time Abramoff is done singing.
There will be those that are forced to resign and those that will lose their seats come November because of the scandal. Americans are fed up with politicians that are scamming the public and the electorate can punish with power. Speculation is afoot that as many as 30 members of Congress will be affected by the Abramoff scandal and that is enough seats to swing control of the House of Representatives.
Like Abscam and the check kiting scheme several years ago, this scandal implicates politicians from both parties. It seems that every ten years, the institution of Congress gets a cleansing from a self induced scandal. This time the majority of offenders appear to be Republicans, but Democrats will not escape unscathed either. There is no doubt that some political careers will go down in ruins because of Jack Abramoff, the only questions that remain are how many and who is going to do some time for their violation of the public trust.
