I've been thinking about how undefined and blunt the word "corruption" is. What Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich did seems to me to be the most crass, gross kind of corruption. But it's different than the corruption of a Tom DeLay.
And I've been thinking about the useful sides of corruption in failed states and lesser developed nations. There seems to me to be a substantial difference between the type of corruption we saw historically in the Philippines and Vietnam when under American and French stewardship and the corruption in Japan and South Korea -- or the kind of corruption China is orchestrating in African states in which it is doing business.
In 2006, immediately after Democrats took the House, Dailykos, MyDD, and Swing State Project began fundraising for Karen Carter in the primary against a very obviously corrupt Democrat, William Jefferson. Chris and I, at MyDD at the time, even paid for Tim Tagaris to head down to New Orleans and cover the race, which he did in a spectacular series of depressing and fascinating posts about a shocked and paranoid city. Karen Carter, Jefferson's primary opponent, ended up losing to Jefferson, as he used the argument that the Federal government was out to get him just like it was out to get the city itself. Jefferson got support from Democratic incumbents, though it was tepid.
This year, Jefferson lost to a Republican, Joseph Cao. Had Carter or another Democrat beaten him in the primary, Democrats would have kept that seat. In fact, with Democrats having achieved fairly dominant majorities in Congress, a constant stream of primaries is the only way to give voters the opportunity to deal with corruption or ossification within the Democratic party itself. With the current mode of operations that suggests that primaries are a 'circular firing squad' or that only safe seats should be in play, in a sense, voters don't really get to clean out corruption without radically changing the political priorities of their community, which they might not want to do. And so you have close elections like the one in which Jefferson lost, where voters clearly aren't Republicans but will choose one if the alternative is someone caught with $90k in their freezer by the FBI.
Another conclusion, aside from the notion that more democracy is good, is that the best solution to corruption is the voting booth. That is the single most legitimate way to remove someone from power and replace them. Charlie Rangel and Alan Mollohan have been faced with ethics charges, let them explain them to their constituents. And if their constituents are fine with the charges, then it should be good enough for Congress to seat them. But without competitive primaries, constituents don't get to make that choice.
William Jefferson is not what I would call a 'better Democrat.' We all know his sad tale of the wads of cash in the freezer, even if in retrospect that looks like a good investment move.
Seriously, the Louisiana democratic party should be embarrased to have not defeated this guy in the primary. But, in a heavily blue district, there is an alternative to the crooked Dem.
That alternative is Green Party candidate Malik Rahim. A former Black Panther, Rahim has been a tireless community activist and hero to thousands of New Orleans residents in the wake of Katrina. He co-founded the Common Ground Health Clinic, which was the first health clinic in N.O to open after Katrina, and continues to offer free health care to N.O, residents without health insurance.
It's my job not just to count votes but to create a climate within which people will feel they have got a stake in the outcome.
Speaking of climate, I'm not quite sure that all his reps know the lyrics to Kumbaya - especially one or two old guys...
With votes on Iraq expected in both houses between now and the summer recess, he's reflectively humble on the House leadership's performance to date in handling the issue:
He noted that the biggest failure by Democrats was in their preparation for the Iraq supplemental spending bill, which first passed with a Democratic-drawn timeline for withdrawal but ultimately passed without any withdrawal language because of President Bush's veto. Clyburn said the leadership team did a poor job of managing expectations of their supporters.
"Everybody was still trying to find their levels of comfort," Clyburn said, adding, "So we were all dancing around trying to figure out who I can best dance with, who I can keep rhythm with."
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