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December 08, 2006
An Ethics Investigation for Olympia?
Never should have written that letter. From today's Political Diary (no link available):
Senator Harry Reid announced last week that one of his top priorities for the new Senate Democratic majority will be to clean up corruption on Capitol Hill. Good idea. He might start by calling for an ethics investigation into a global warming letter sent by Senators Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Olympia Snowe of Maine to Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil. As the Journal reported on Monday, that letter is a veiled threat that ExxonMobil would be well advised by a "date certain" to "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] deniers" and instead start giving money to environmental groups. The outcry against the two Senators since the letter was published has been deafening.The letter in question is available here, and the Wall Street Journal editorial on the matter is here. The letter does contain an undercurrent of 'toe the line, or else' and such a message from powerful Senators to a private industry should give us pause. Forget how unpopular the oil companies are for a moment and consider - two powerful people in Washington are telling an industry how they can spend their money, and implying that bad things will happen if they spend it the "wrong" way.Several experts on Congressional ethics laws have contacted us noting that these two Senators may have run afoul of long-established rules. One former Senate legal counsel alerts us to Senate Rule 43, passed in the wake of the Keating Five scandal in the 1980s. Senate rule 43 reads: "The decision to provide assistance to petitioners may not be made on the basis of contributions or services to the member's political committee or entity in which the member has a political, personal, or financial interest."
In other words, Senators are not permitted to use their powers as lawmakers to do harm or benefit to individuals or companies on behalf of "political campaigns or causes." Do the actions by the Senators from West Virginia and Maine violate this rule? "Possibly, yes," says the former Senate lawyer. While it's true that Senators Rockefeller and Snowe are not offering "assistance" to a petitioner, they do implicitly threaten punishment to ExxonMobil if it doesn't contribute to one of their political interests -- i.e., environmental causes. Another legal expert familiar with Congressional ethics rules adds: "If this isn't the kind of activity that violates Rule 43, it should be."
It may not rise to the level of abuse of power, but it is certainly a serious misuse of it. At the very least, Rockefeller and Snowe should be forced to write a letter clarifying their intent.
Posted by slublog at December 8, 2006 09:44 PM
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Comments
"That's a nice little multinational corporation you have there. It'd be a real shame if something happened to it."
It's extortion.
Posted by: harrison at December 8, 2006 11:01 PM
Senator Jay Rockefeller should have been investigated a long time ago about energy policy that rewards his family's Rockefeller Trust.
As you may or may not know the original Rockefeller oil companies are held in that trust and he benefits from keeping Domestic Oil from being developed. They have alot of oil contracts in the middle east.
As yourself why with such a conflict of interest the re is no inquiry into his oil holdings via the Trust.
Posted by: ScottyDog at December 17, 2006 03:02 PM