Colorado GOP in legislative ethics mess

The GOP ethical dustup over who would succeed House Minority Leader Mike May, now rendered moot by May deciding he will stay, makes you want to say a number of things, some of them printable. You could say that the actions of a few have brought shame on many; you could say that those involved, if found to have committed ethical violations, should be condemned in no uncertain terms; you could say that this sordid stuff is not representative of the Republican party in general, and all of that would be true. But mostly what you want to say is that this HAS to be parody.

Following an electoral defeat of the worst magnitude, a continuing decline of the party, and a skeptical public begging for change - this scandal has highlighted much of what is wrong with the party. It has opened the door for criticism of the business as usual, unethical, and dirty perception folks have of politicians.

At this particular moment in history, it is the Republican party that is seen as out of touch, uncaring and responsible for an inefficient, and ineffective - at best, government. The whole party is saddled with the failures associated with Katrina. While Democrats, in practice, are often as inept, uncaring, opportunistic and embarrassing as the Republicans have been, they have won the perception war - and now wear the mantle of change and reform and progress. This is part of the reason they swept into office here and nation wide.

To be so brazenly unethical as to attempt a trade votes for cash, and at a level so small that it would hardly make Rod Blagojevich even notice-- an out-party leadership race -- the Republicans involved (if any... we await the facts) traded the ethical upper hand for nothing. Political ethics was necessary to regaining public confidence - and that required politicians who were about the public business and not about their own interests. It may be true that the Republicans currently accused -- one House member and one lobbyist, for starters -- are true and honorable public servants, but they are not perceived as such - and they will not be either, not now.

Tactically it was stupid, politically it was ridiculous, in execution it was mismanaged and in terms of reaching out to voters and the public it was disastrous. It was everything that has killed the party in a microcosm, and just when the "brand" was beginning to recover from it's recent bout of scandals that cost it so dearly in 2006 and 2008.

Stupid.

In light of the ongoing scandal surrounding Gov. Blagojevich in Illinois, it seems clear that we have learned nothing – and in fact have thrown away a golden opportunity to stand as a party on the fundamentals of clean government and ethical reform.

This will now play out in the ethics panel created to to police the interaction of lobbyists and politicians – and anyone found complicit in this wrongdoing deserves to be publically flayed. As soon as guilt is established, party leaders and politicians should disavow the action and condemn immediately the actions of a few. This will not quickly go away. In an era where the media looks with far more scrutiny at the actions of Republicans this incident will further depress the standing – what little there was – of the Republican Party.

For Minority Leader May to have withdrawn his resignation was one sensible step to stop the bleeding -- by taking a succession struggle off the table for now -- and a laudable action on his part given the personal factors he cited earlier for a January departure from office. But much more must be done to accomplish both the reality and the perception of official Republican repudiation of this type of activity.

We are recovering from at least two elections where the soiled reputation of Republican politicians has been a drumbeat of the opposition. Already activists are calling for criminal investigations and questioning the integrity of those appointed to sort through this whole mess. To begin to connect again, with voters and restore the confidence necessary to win again, the party had to do embody integrity and ethics in government. Becoming the scandal du jour is not the way to begin.

Better messenger needed

The GOP's problem is the message, some say. For others the party is too conservative, or too religious. Still others say we've abandoned the party's principles, and gone soft inside the halls of power. A fair amount of energy has gone into the post mortem of the 2008 elections, a lot of angst and blame, handwringing and blame. Did I mention blame? Well it probably deserves to be mentioned twice. But so much effort has gone into this already that I feel compelled to offer something different, something more... hip.

The problem it seems to me is that the republican party lacks an appropriate standard bearer. Senator McCain ran as a maverick - but for a good number of reasons, he was more of a renegade: he was out of touch with his party, the voters and the general mood of the country. He was for change too, and "I'm just like the other guy - but older and not as cool" is not a winning slogan.

The principles of conservatism, and the Republican party are as applicable today as they were in 1980, the last time we had a party leader that put forward policy and principle in a vision for America's greatness that captured public imaginations.

Republicans need someone who can articulate - effectively and positively why our solutions work. Leave behind for the moment that the other guy's ideas are empty change for change sake and find someone who can clearly and positively express to America why smaller government, strong families, a strong nation and individual liberty.

Don't get me wrong, there is more work to be done to revive Republicanism than merely finding a new voice for old solutions. Americans need to know how, Republicans will address the burning topics of today - and we need to go beyond the lower taxes platforms of yesteryear (and the 2008 elections)-- we need to be for policies that work, that open doors and opportunity for all, that address important questions like health care access, better infrastructure and retirement security.

That can be done - but we need a face that can embodies change, and honesty, and a vision for America's future. We need all that, and the integrity and responsibility to back it up.

Beware rationalization

Here's my problem with Ken Davenport's view that this was a "throw the bums out" election, rather than an embrace of the Dems. People certainly didn't vote for us either. The problem is we have now had several "throw the bums out" cycles; and at some point we've got to begin to suspect that its more than just the fact that voters are fed up with Republicans who get elected and then stop acting like Republicans. They need something to vote for - this year that was "hope and change." When you don't like what you've got, the first person coming around that's peddling something new and better is going to capture the market. Unfortunately, this year we had nothing more than repackaged same old same old. Change looks mighty good.

There was a price to be paid for all those Republicans who "grew in their office" once they got to DC, there was price to pay for becoming the party of Washington as usual and being the problem of government instead of having a problem with government.

We've paid that price for being the party of Bush and Cheney - and then some. We need to stop and take stock of where we are, and who we are, or two years from now were going to be talking about how continue to lose seats because the voters are still in a "throw the bums out mood."

It's clear that there was some Bush backlash again, and the media - which had effectively laid the groundwork and message for this election over the past 8 years - helped create an environment that painted the party as out of touch, reactionist, elitist and corrupt.

We will have to overcome a huge message and public perception disparity - something I'm not confident that we can do. However the first step is to begin, once again to give Americans something to vote for. Something more than hope and change. We can do that.

We must.