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December 01, 2003
Threats and Bribery in Congress
Robert Novak reports on the strong-arm tactics used during the Medicare vote to try and convince at least one Republican congressman to change a "no" vote to "yes".
WASHINGTON -- During 14 years in the Michigan Legislature and 11 years in Congress, Rep. Nick Smith had never experienced anything like it. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, in the wee hours last Saturday morning, pressed him to vote for the Medicare bill. But Smith refused. Then things got personal.In other words, he was offered a bribe - in the form of support for his son's campaign - to change his vote, and then met with threats - against his son's campaign - when he refused.Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
I'm not even sure why such tactics would be considered legal. If a lobbyist had paid for Smith's vote by donating $100,000 to his son's campaign, I believe there would be criminal charges that could have been brought against both the Congressman for accepting a bribe and the lobbyist for paying one. While Smith obviously rejected the bribe, it still seems to me that the other Congressmen who offered it to him should be eligible to face charges on at least attempted bribery - though I suspect it might be difficult to obtain proof. Somehow, given the current climate in the House, I'm not sure if anyone else would be willing to stand up and admit to having witnessed the bribe offer or the threats being made.
Novak notes that Rep. Smith was "still reeling" after having had his son's career threatened by his colleagues, but notes that when Rep. Smith spoke to his son, "Brad Smith urged his father to vote his conscience." Good for them! I'm glad to see Rep. Smith stick to his guns, and I think it speaks well of his son that he would want his father to hold firm rather than try and protect his nascent career.
It should also be noted that, traditionally, when a vote is held on a bill, there is a 15-minute time frame in which Congressmen are allowed to enter their votes. Once the 15-minutes have elapsed, the vote is closed and the results made official. There's no rule, however, that requires that the time-period for voting be only 15 minutes long. The rules say only that the Congressmen must be given at least 15 minutes in which to enter their votes, but voting can remain open for however much longer than that the leadership desires. As I said, though, traditionally, the leadership allows only 15 minutes for the votes to be cast.
When it came to the Medicare vote, however, the leadership decided to break with tradition, and ended up keeping the voting open for considerably longer - long enough, in fact, to find enough votes to pass the bill, which would have failed had the 15 minute time limit been adhered to as it has in virtually all other Congressional votes since electronic voting was introduced.
The Medicare bill was pushed through the House only after a supposed 15-minute vote was held open for nearly three hours as Bush, top administration officials and House GOP leaders cajoled and intimidated a handful of wary Republicans to switch their votes and reverse what would have been a stunning legislative defeat for the administration.And, of course, we all know what would happen if Democrats were pulling stuff like this....
Posted by thorswitch at December 1, 2003 08:13 AM
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