Hooray for Adam Schiff and Michael Castle

In a burst of good sense yesterday the House passed a bill by Adam Schiff (D-Ca) and Michael Castle (R-Del) to prohibit Members of Congress from employing spouses in their campaigns. In my local area John Doolittle was a prime example of why the practice was so terrible and why it should have been banned long ago. He employed his wife Julie in a kickback scheme (Doolittle uses other terms but that what the practice looks like to any normal person) which offered 15% of campaign donations to her "consulting" firm for campaign work. That was not illegal but it certainly stretched the bounds of credible ethics.

The practice was not limited to Doolittle. In California Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca) also used the arrangement by employing her husband's firm and collecting $280,000 for the firm over the last several years. There are all sorts of justifications for this sleeze, none of them good. Lofgren said her hubby had other clients and this was only part of the work the firm did. The practice was used in a couple of variations by many members of congress on both sides of the aisle. One wonders why Congress is held in such low esteem.

Schiff summed it up with a statement yesterday "You're essentially telling a donor, 'Part of what you give to my campaign, you give to me.' That's inherently a conflict." Truer words were never spoken. Let's hope the Senate adopts the same measure.