If you are a former member of the House of Representatives who is engaged in the legal business of lobbying, you cannot use the House gym, come on the House floor, or exercise any of the other privileges accorded to former House members.

But if you are convicted of a felony related to official misconduct, you still can.

Former Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.), a powerful gavel-swinger at the Commerce Committee in the late 1990s, is no fan of new House rules that prevent lobbyists who were lawmakers from stalking the floor during votes or using the chamberÂ’s gym.

The new rule looks more favorably on former members who are convicted felons, such as Jim Traficant (D-Ohio), than former members who are registered lobbyists, Bliley complained in a hallway outside the House chamber last week.

Bliley, who often visits the House floor, said he used to use the gym frequently and attends events of the Chowder and Marching Club — the House Republican “secret society” — near the Speaker’s suite of offices.

“To show you how stupid it is, when he gets out of prison Traficant ... will be able to use the gym as a former member because he’s not a lobbyist,” Bliley said.

Indeed, said one House source familiar with the situation, Traficant’s privileges remain intact, as do those of former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), who just resigned amid a graft scandal. “I don’t believe it was really raised as an issue,” given the lengthy prison terms both men face, said the source.

Many of Bliley’s old colleagues agree. Several lamented the new rules in a Cannon House Office Building washroom just a few feet from where Republicans were voting on a new majority leader last week. One suggested dumping the rule as soon as possible — perhaps this session.

Dumping the rules would be a great idea – both because of the failure to sanction criminal former members of the body, and because the changed rules do nothing substantive to avoid corruption. Feel-good "reforms" that provide no real reform are not hte answer to official corruption -- prosecution is.

Posted by: Greg at 01:42 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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