Ex-lawmakers scold Congress
Some former members of Congress have this to say to this season's crop of congressional candidates: "We have met the enemy. And it is us."
In an unprecedented letter to all congressional candidates in both parties, more than 130 former members of Congress said it's time to halt "this sorry state of affairs" and start to "focus on problem solving."
Congress "appears gripped by zero-sum game partisanship," in which the goal often seems to be more to devastate the other side ... than to find common ground to solve problems," they wrote.
It is a pointed message from some experts who know the territory and want everybody to get along better.
They urge current members to show "decency and respect toward opponents" and engage in truthfulness and good-faith debate and end personal attacks — in both campaigns and their legislative work.
The cry of "enough" was organized by the new group Former Members of Congress for Common Ground, led by former Reps. John Porter (R-Ill.) and David Skaggs (D-Colo.). Each served on the House Appropriations Committee and was known for his bipartisan approach. And each remains professionally active on Capitol Hill as a lawyer with a large firm.
The letter resulted from more than three months of discussions among the former members who signed the letter. The public is "hugely perplexed and dismayed" about the problems facing the nation, Skaggs said. And he hopes the initiative will be a catalyst for current and would-be lawmakers to know and respect one another.
"People are fed up," including members of Congress, at a time when the nation faces huge challenges and needs more consensus building, added Skaggs, who recently has gained attention as chairman of the House's Office of Congressional Ethics. The two activities are not related.
"We can't continue the way we have gone in the past. People want to cut the childish political posturing," Porter said. "With the problems facing the country, our campaigns have become an embarrassment to democracy."
Those problems have resulted, in part, he said, from a political nominating process that favors more extreme views and from political consultants "who encourage negative campaigns because it, unfortunately, works."
The former members also cited larger cultural factors. "Members who far exceed the bounds of normal and respectful discourse," they said in their letter, "are not viewed with shame but are lionized, treated as celebrities, rewarded with cable television appearances and enlisted as magnets for campaign fundraisers."
Skaggs and Porter gave POLITICO an advance copy of the letter, which they plan to discuss in a conference call with reporters Monday. They said that their group may pursue other activities, including bipartisan contacts with candidates in their home states.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), for example, recently called his opponent, Daniel Webster, "Taliban Dan," saying his social views are those of a "religious fanatic." He earlier said that blood often "drips" from former Vice President Dick Cheney's teeth when he speaks.
On the other side of the aisle, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said this summer that President Barack Obama was turning the United States into a "nation of slaves" and that Democratic control of the White House and Congress had become "tyranny."
Despite the pervasive harsh rhetoric, the 111th Congress has been among the most productive in recent history, albeit on a mostly partisan basis. But the letter from the former lawmakers listed a litany of problems that are "as great as any this country has faced in our lifetimes."
Occasionally, political leaders have called for an end to hostilities. President Barack Obama, for instance, initially styled himself as a "post-partisan president." And next month's midterm elections could increase the need for him to work across the aisle. But Republicans complain that they have had little contact with him over the past two years.
In a speech last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that Congress was "broken" and called for repairing the "fragile bonds of trust" with the public.
"The institution does not function, does not deliberate and seems incapable of acting on the will of the people," he told a Washington audience, blaming both parties for the "dysfunction."
The letter was spurred by a daylong conference at the National Archives in June, sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, in which former members assembled to discuss "breaking the stalemate." Porter and Skaggs said they received technical assistance from the Association of Former Members of Congress, which was founded in 1970 but has not worked on current legislative issues.
The association lists 557 members on its website, many still active as lobbyists or in other work. The total number of ex-members is much larger, however, given the 535 seats in Congress.
Among the more than 130 former members who signed the letter are past House leaders of both parties — including Democrats Vic Fazio and Martin Frost and Republicans Bob Michel and Mickey Edwards. Other recent leaders, though, were notable by their absence, such as Republicans Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay and Democrats Tom Foley and Dick Gephardt.
A few ex-senators also joined the letter, including James Abourezk, Bill Brock, Gary Hart, Bob Packwood and Tim Wirth.
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