John Kerry: The Beacon of Ethics on the Super Congress
John Kerry has officially come out as the first member of the Super Congress to say “no” to money. One of the biggest problems with the Super Committee, like pretty much all of Congress, is that they have to raise boat loads of money to keep their seats. The vast majority of that money comes from corporations. What do they give the corporations in return? Well, for many, pretty much anything they want.
Kerry, recognizing the problem, said,
“I’m not meeting with a lot of lobbyists; I’m meeting with people I choose to meet with, who can inform me, assist in the process of crunching numbers and dealing with consequences, and so forth,” Kerry told the Globe last week in his first extensive interview about his committee membership.
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“I will not fund-raise; I will raise no money,” the senator told the Globe. “I’m not raising any money while the committee is working.”
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Asked why, Kerry said: “Because I don’t want people to think that I’m being leveraged by contributions. I just don’t want want the appearance of money being associated with anything I do on this.”
It turns out, he has pretty good reasons for taking that stance. Since the formation of the Super Committee, lobbyists have been courting the members as if they were the last available cheerleader at the prom.
Kerry plans on running for reelection in 2014.
I’m not usually one to spend time dwelling in the past, but sometimes I wish there were do-overs in politics. Yes, I know, John Kerry is boring. He’s Mitt Romney without the Ken Doll looks, the crazy religion and the (yes, I’m saying it) flip flopping. But today, John Kerry made me long for 2004.
Sigh
6:55 pm
I have made my fair share of jokes at his expense over the years, even going so far as to describe his style of speech making as The Kerry Syndrome. But I give him credit here. It’s hard to walk away from money, especially in these political times.
I, too, wish for a do-over, but not for Kerry; for Howard Dean. Had he not melted in that tirade after the Iowa caucus in ’04, he could’ve won. Oh, well, guess we’ll never know what could’ve happened.
6:06 pm
I love this site, but FAIL. Kerry comes “clean” after raising more soft money than anyone else besides presidential candidates. With a career price tag of almost $400,000,000. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00000245&newMem=N
8:13 am
He’s also got all that Heinz money, he can literally afford not to talk to lobbyists.
Unfortunately, Mike makes a good point. We don’t know where his loyalties lie, as he has received lobbyist money in the past.