The April edition of the Kuhl Khronicle, Randy Kuhl's email newsletter, has been sent to subscribers. Each item in the Khronicle links to a different article on Kuhl's website. Those articles are titled "Constituent Services".
Here's the
first sample of the service Kuhl provides:
The recent events
concerning the allegations against former New York Governor Eliot
Spitzer further solidifies the need for aggressive ethics reform in
government. That is why I voted for the Ethics Reform Bill that
establishes the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), an outside panel
to review ethics complaints against lawmakers.
The recent
indictment of Rick Renzi, Kuhl's fellow Republican who's accused of using his office for personal gain, doesn't get a mention here. Spitzer, who's accused of misusing his penis, not his office, does. It's clear that Kuhl stuck the Spitzer reference in this item simply to make a political point.
Here's another
sample:
This budget is another example of how out of touch Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are with the American people. [...] Democrats are attempting to squander hard-earned American money on more unnecessary government programs.
Kuhl doesn't list a single example of these "unnecessary programs". And, as always with Kuhl's discussion of the budget, he fails to mention the elephant in the room: the deficit created by the war in Iraq.
Kuhl used to try to draw a distinction between partisan campaigning and Congressional business. If that distinction ever existed, it's pretty clear from the latest Khronicle that it's been abandoned for the current campaign.
Comments
"Spitzer, who's accused of misusing his penis, not his office, does." - Be careful it looks like there is more bad news for the Spitzer camp in the future
I've heard rumors but not seen any facts on that recently.
No matter -- it's still true that the Spitzer reference is gratuitous and irrelevant to the point Randy's making, which is about Congressional ethics legislation. There are plenty of Republicans (and one Democrat) in Congress under indictment who are examples of why that kind of legislation is needed. If Randy really wanted to inform constituents rather than start his campaign early, he wouldn't be using a Spitzer reference.
It looks to me like Randy is referencing corruption in government in general and supporting a particular bill that will help in congress. And while Republicans may lead in corruption in congress, the Democrats seem to do fine elsewhere - like the Governor of Puerto Rico, the mayor of Detroit and Spitzer
I really don't think a guy who locked his wife in a barn and pulled guns on her should be talking about Spitzer's infidelities. Not just because of the hypocrisy but because, frankly, there's no way to talk about this in the context of Kuhl without discussing Kuhl's own past.
Going to a prostitute is illegal, but pulling guns at a dinner party is too.
Kuhl really ought to stay away from this topic.
I should also note that Randy's Congressional ethics (aside from his blurring of campaigning with governing, which is fairly minor in the scheme of what goes on these days) are solid. He regularly supports good government type bills (about transparency, ethics, and so on), something I gave him a lot of credit for.
He's the last person on earth who should want to blur personal and professional ethics, given that for him, the former are shaky while the latter are sound.
I agree, Elmer, there's dirty laundry on both sides, so singling out Spitzer isn't smart because everybody gets dirty in a mudfight.
I agree, Exile, that RK's professional ethics are good and more importantly he's gone against his party on a couple of ethics votes, so why not just tout that instead of including a partisan swipe?
What's this about allegedly locking a wife in a barn??????? I missed that one!