The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

The Parties Versus the People: An Interview with Mickey Edwards

 

Former U.S. Rep. Mickey Edwards.

The Parties Versus the People by Mickey Edwards. Available now from Yale Press.

By ANNA MEIER

With a dismal record of passing legislation, perpetuated by hyper-partisan gridlock, the 112^th Congress has been called the “worst Congress ever.” Some prefer to stop at “dysfunctional,” but whichever nickname you choose, there’s something seriously off about Congress these days.  Bills are proposed with the goal of advancing partisan interests, and not necessarily the public’s. Debates have deginerated into bitter partisan bickering, not thoughtful consideration of public policy.

In such an environment, it’s natural to search for someone to blame. But according to former Congressman Mickey Edwards, who spent many years as a member of the Republican leadership, the problem in Congress isn’t its members—it’s the system itself.

Fortunately, it’s not beyond repair. In his new book, The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Democrats and Republicans into Americans, Edwards, who served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District, lays out the features of the American political order that make it easy for parties to seek power over the public interest.

In order to combat cronyism and get Congress back on track, he proposes sweeping changes to our political system, from ending party-controlled primaries to eliminating corporate donations to candidates. We caught up with Edwards to talk about provoking accountability, moving beyond labels, and encouraging a more effective Congress.

POGO: You've said that partisanship, not polarization, is to blame for dysfunction in and frustration with government today. Can you explain the difference?

Mickey Edwards: Polarization is a natural part of the democratic process; there are more than 300 million of us and a lot of different viewpoints, some of them very strongly held.  A democracy depends on a vigorous exchange between those alternative visions.  Some of the greatest advances in our history have come not from the political center but from the “poles,” including the civil rights movement and the women’s movement, both of which were radical reversals of long-held practices and beliefs.

Partisanship, on the other hand, is the taking of political positions that seem advantageous to one’s political club. Today, neither Democrats nor Republicans are open to proposals—no matter what their merits—that emanate from a member of the other party. The democratic process requires a willingness to engage honestly in an exchange of views, with an openness to considering an opponent’s perspective; partisanship cuts off that exchange and proceeds solely from a cold political calculus that depends on hurting the other side in order to gain an advantage in the next election. The two terms—polarization and partisanship—are often confused, but they are very different.

House Votes to Stop Future Funding of Rosoboronexport

By ANDREW WYNER

The House of Representatives voted to cut off future government deals with a Russian government-owned arms contractor that has provided more than $1 billion in arms to the Syrian government. The contractor, Rosoboronexport, has supplied weapons to a brutal Syrian regime led by Bashar Al-Assad and currently has a contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) worth nearly $1 billion to supply helicopters to Afghanistan.

Representative Jim Moran (D-Va.) offered an amendment to the FY 2013 defense appropriations bill (H.R. 5856) which directs that no funding may “be used to enter into a contract, memorandum of understanding, or cooperative agreement with, make a grant to, or provide a loan or loan guarantee to Rosoboronexport.” The amendment passed with a resounding 407-5 vote. POGO hopes the Senate passes a similar measure.

Last month, POGO documented our concerns with the Rosoboronexport contract, under which the U.S. Army originally procured 21 Mi-17 helicopters for $377 million and later exercised an option worth $550 million to procure an additional 12 helicopters. While Representative Moran’s amendment does not affect the remainder of the current contract, it bars all future Pentagon business dealings with Rosoboronexport.

McCain Spokesman: Senator is Proud of Ex Lockheed Lobbyist Appointed to Defense Oversight Role

POGO STAFF REPORT

The former Lockheed executive and lobbyist who Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appointed to a key role overseeing the defense industry took the job only temporarily, a spokesman for McCain said.

The Project On Government Oversight reported Thursday that McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, hired former Lockheed vice president Ann Elise Sauer to head the committee’s Republican staff.  As POGO noted, the committee oversees military spending, including major weapons systems that are central to Lockheed’s business.

In a financial disclosure form, Sauer listed almost $1.7 million of compensation from Lockheed during a reporting period spanning 2011 and early 2012.

In a statement to POGO after Thursday’s article was posted, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said Sauer took early retirement from Lockheed in January 2011, which accounted for part of her compensation.

POGO Investigator to CNN: Regulators Got too Close to Banking Officials

 

By JOE NEWMAN

Michael Smallberg, a Project On Government Oversight investigator, tells CNN that a recent Treasury inspector general report gives an example of how federal regulators can get too close to the people and institutions they're supposed to be watching:

When folks wonder why regulators didn't do a better job of stopping the financial crisis, or they're wondering why OCC didn't spot the huge trading loss at JP Morgan earlier this year, I think part of the issue is just that the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining.

Last week, Smallberg wrote about the inspector general, which found a bank examiner in Florida violated federal ethics rules by playing golf and dining with officials from one of the banks he oversaw.

Joe Newman is the director of communications for the Project On Government Oversight.

Follow @JFNewman

Federal Bank Examiner Violated Ethics Rules by Playing Golf with Bank Employees, Probe Finds

By MICHAEL SMALLBERG

A federal bank examiner violated ethics rules by golfing with bank employees during work hours and letting them pick up expenses, according to a report by a government watchdog recently released under the Freedom of Information Act.

A series of banking scandals and crises has called into question whether bank regulators are independent enough from the banks they oversee. The report by the U.S. Treasury Department’s inspector general offers a glimpse of one such relationship.

The report accuses one national bank examiner of “playing golf during official duty hours,” “accepting gratuities” in the form of “golf fees and/or food,” and “recording his official time and attendance hours as working while playing golf” with employees of a bank whose name begins “First National Bank of.”

The rest of the bank’s name is blacked out, along with the names of the examiner and bank employees.

The inspector general released the July 2010 report last month to the web site governmentattic.org, which posts records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The Project On Government Oversight found the report in a batch of documents on the site.

Despite New Law, Members of Congress Still Profiting on Stock Deals

Billion-Dollar Deal with Russian Firm Sets Off Contracting Alarm

An Mi-17 helicopter flying in Afghanistan

BY ANDREW WYNER AND MELANIE KAUFMAN

Day by day, Bashar al-Assad's brutal Syrian regime continues to crack down on its own civilian population. So when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia this week of providing attack helicopters to the Syrian government, most Americans were rightly outraged. But how would Americans feel if they knew nearly a billion taxpayer dollars were supporting the Russian arms broker at the center of the controversy? Unfortunately, that may very well be the case.

A major Russian state-owned arms broker, Rosoboronexport, responsible for roughly 80 to 90 percent of the country’s foreign arms sales, is coming under attack from a group of Senators after winning a nearly $1 billion, sole-source contract from the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2011 to provide Afghanistan with non-attack Mi-17 helicopters. Rosoboronexport previously was sanctioned by the U.S. government from August 2006 through May 2010 for aiding Iran’s nuclear program. Since sanctions were lifted, Rosoboronexport has also provided billions of dollars of lethal aircraft and other weapons to the Syrian government, which may have deployed them in killing thousands of civilians.

While advocacy groups have urged Congress to end DoD’s deal because of the company’s ties to Syria, POGO believes that Rosoboronexport’s arrangement with the Pentagon also raises other concerns. Specifically, is the deal to buy 21 dual-use Mi-17 helicopters for $375 million (with a $500 million option to buy 12 more) in the best interest of the military and the U.S. taxpayer?

There are indications that the U.S. is being overcharged for Mi-17’s, especially given the non-competitive nature of Rosoboronexport’s award. Further, POGO is concerned that Rosoboronexport is not a responsible contractor with adequate standards of integrity and business ethics.

Defense Lobbyist Got Fat Bonus Before Joining Congressional Staff

Northrop Grumman's E-2D Hawkeyes are among the billions in weapons the U.S. government buys from the company each year (DoD photo)

Click here to join POGO's Un-Do Influence Campaign: a movement to reclaim Washington

By DANA LIEBELSON

Sure, the fat severance bonus Northrop Grumman paid lobbyist Thomas MacKenzie right before he left to work for the House Armed Services Committee may have been a reward for a job well done. However, that doesn’t keep the cynics among us from wondering if the company was hoping the cash might also help MacKenzie remember his old friends fondly.

Lee Fang at Republic Report found this week through a recently filed ethics disclosure form that in 2011, Northrop  awarded MacKenzie a $498,334 bonus, worth almost as much as his $529,379 annual salary. MacKenzie got the money right before he left to go work as a congressional staffer under Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.).

At his new job, where he’ll be working on many issues that could affect his former employer, MacKenzie will earn about $120,000 per year.  

“The sheer size of the bonus appears extraordinary,” Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics, told POGO. “A reasonable person might wonder if the bonus was paid to compensate the pay cut, with the expectation that he will work for Northrop Grumman on the inside.”

7 Types of Government Information that Would Benefit from Springtime Sunshine

By DANA LIEBELSON

Here in the District, spring is in the air! Rock Creek Park is abloom, the tourists are out on the Mall, there are mile-long lines to the food trucks, and the sun is shining. At POGO, when we see sunshine, we can't help but consider one of our favorite issues: government transparency. Unfortunately, there's some important government information that’s still sitting in the dark.

We’ve put together a list of seven types of information generated by the executive branch that could benefit from a little springtime sunshine—and should be made public ASAP.  This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s representative of the kinds of data, documents, records, and other information that we’d like to see prioritized in the President’s open government effort. To learn more, be sure to check out the openness floor.

1. Robust Contracting Data

Given the fact that POGO’s Bad Business report found that service contractors cost taxpayers almost twice as much as federal employees to perform comparable services, the public deserves more transparency in government contracting.  According to POGO General Counsel Scott Amey, who coauthored the report, “all paperwork produced during the contracting process, including contracts, task and delivery orders, price and cost information, proposals, solicitations, award decisions and justifications, audits, and performance and responsibility data should be posted on a public website.”

2. Performance Reports on the Contractors Managing the Sprawling Nuclear Weapons Complex

The Department of Energy spends a whopping 90 percent of its budget on contractors, and much of that goes to contractors managing the nuclear weapons complex—a task overseen by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Unfortunately for taxpayers, the NNSA decided in October 2009 to withhold key reports on contractor performance—Performance Evaluation Plans (PEPs) and Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs)—from the public until three years after their completion. As POGO wrote to President Obama, PEPs and PERs are “perhaps the single most important information available to hold NNSA accountable. These evaluations assess the performance of the contractors who manage the laboratories and production facilities that comprise the national weapons complex. Additionally, this information demonstrates how effectively the government uses the power of the purse to hold the contractors accountable for their performance.”

Rep. Wolf Tries to Stop Flock of Colleagues Going Through Lobbying Revolving Door

By LYDIA DENNETT 

Former elected officials lobbying for foreign dictators may be big business in DC, but one Member of Congress is trying to slow down the revolving door between the Hill and lobbying shops that work on behalf of interests outside the U.S.

Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA) recently introduced the Foreign Lobbying Reform Act (H.R. 4343), which would prohibit high-ranking government officials like the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and ambassadors from lobbying on behalf of foreign governments for ten years after leaving office.

According to Rep. Wolf, “serving in Congress or as a United States ambassador is a high honor and people should not walk out of government one day and then trade on their service the next, especially for governments who do not share the same values as the United States.”

Lt. Col. Danny Davis, Camp Lejeune Documentary and Other Whistleblowers Honored at Ridenhour Awards

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis

By DANA LIEBELSON

Eileen Foster, a former senior executive for the national's largest mortgage provider, Countrywide Financial, didn't plan on getting labeled a whistleblower. She was hired to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by company employees. But when she did her job and revealed large-scale fraud within the company—the kind that led to the 2008 financial crash—she was fired for telling the truth.

Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis never set out to be a whistleblower either; he simply saw a discrepancy between what senior officers were telling Congress about the war in Afghanistan and the actual conditions on the ground. Refusing to abide by the idea that “the truth was negotiable,” he decided to go to Congress and the media to set the record straight.

Foster and Davis were just some of the truth-tellers honored yesterday at the 9th annual Ridenhour Prizes. The ceremony, hosted this year by POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian, recognizes those who champion the truth and uphold the spirit of Ron Ridenhour, the former U.S. Army helicopter gunner who exposed the My Lai Massacre based on accounts he had heard from fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War. Each prize comes with a $10,000 stipend.

 

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“This is the most threatening environment for whistleblowers in decades—this year’s prizewinners are heroes that demand to be heard” said Randy Fertel, President of the Fertel Foundation, which cosponsors the awards along with the Nation Institute.

One of this year’s prizes went to Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon, the filmmakers behind Semper Fi, Always Faithful, which chronicles Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger’s quest to get to the bottom of the Marine Corps’ cover-up of the deadly water contamination at Camp Lejeune.

“There are factions that call people ‘unpatriotic’ for holding military leaders accountable,” Ensminger said at the event. “But telling the truth is many times harder than going along with the status quo.”

Treasury Department Has Not Implemented Two Thirds of Bailout Watchdog's Recommendations

By MICHAEL SMALLBERG

The Treasury Department has failed to fully implement two thirds of the recommendations made by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) during the course of the Wall Street bailout, according to a new SIGTARP report released this morning.

When Congress approved the bailout in 2008, it also created the SIGTARP to protect against the abuse of taxpayer funds. Since then, the SIGTARP has issued nearly 100 recommendations aimed at preventing waste, fraud, and abuse across a wide range of bailout programs. But like all IGs, the SIGTARP cannot compel an agency to take action based on its findings. 

Treasury has put many of the SIGTARP’s recommendations in place, which “resulted in important protections for taxpayers” according to the SIGTARP’s report. But in other cases, for reasons that are not always clear, Treasury has decided not to adopt the recommendations, raising concerns about the ongoing potential for abuse.

For instance, the SIGTARP made several recommendations concerning a bailout program in which the government partnered with private firms to invest in the troubled assets that remained on the balance sheets of many banks, preventing them from raising capital and increasing lending. (POGO and others had raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest arising from the private interests of the fund managers selected by the government.)