I know many of you read Daily Kos, but for those of you who don’t, there’s a front-page article about the latest tussle between the Democrats and Senator Vitter. Here’s a bit of background, quoted within the diary from www.theadvertiser.com:
Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Chris Whittington filed a sworn complaint with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics Thursday accusing U.S. Sen. David Vitter of using taxpayer-funded town hall meetings to engage in campaign activity.
Whittington’s complaint is based on Vitter’s statements at several taxpayer-funded town hall meetings criticizing U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, a potential re-election opponent. At one town hall meeting, Vitter encouraged the audience to “keep up the pressure on” Melancon.
Basically, as the Daily Kos article explains, politicians are legally supposed to avoid actually campaigning at taxpayer-funded events. My feeling is that “keep up the pressure on Melancon” does not constitute clear enough evidence of actually campaigning (e.g., “vote for me and not that dog who’s running against me”) for the courts to find him guilty of anything. As for the Senate Committee on Ethics, don’t make me laugh! They never even reprimanded Vitter for screwing whores, did they (pardon my language)? As far as I can tell the Ethics Committees in both Houses of Congress are essentially moribund and unlikely to take action against any member of Congress unless they are guilty of rape, murder, or something else that’s really sensational.
Anyway, my overall conclusion, as I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear, is that, especially in the context of Louisiana politics, this complaint doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
The background story, though, might (from the Daily Kos diary):
What is clear, however, is that the Louisiana Democratic Party is serious about 2010, and serious about their presumptive candidate. Which has to be heartening both to Melancon and the Democrats in Washington eager to expand their Senate majority, if at all possible.
Your thoughts?