The Bright Side of Scandal
As a native Wisconsinite, I was happy to see my very own Sen. Russ Feingold (D) announce his plans last week to introduce a constitutional amendment that would require the direct election of senators to fill vacant seats. With a nod to history, Feingold notes that “In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators” and rightfully reasons that “they should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people.”
This obviously is a response to the scandals and drama surrounding Blagojevich and, to a lesser extent, Kennedy, and it drives home an interesting point: Oftentimes, reform is borne out of scandal. I know I wasn’t thinking about the processes we had for filling mid-term vacancies until I started hearing about Gov. Blagojevich; understandably, especially given the economic crisis, any move to reform what many see as an arcane and irrelevant process would be quickly dismissed. Now, political pundits are speculating that Feingold’s amendment may just have a chance.
I was thinking about this as I spent the weekend discussing campaign finance at a summit held by Common Cause. The big news this year was the fact that Connecticut this year joined Maine and Arizona in providing for voluntary public financing of state electoral races, a move that has opened up the playing field to a much wider and more representative body of individuals. What finally broke the logjam? A host of shocking scandals that led the Washington Post to dub the state “Corrupticut.”
There was the mayor who liked to be plied with $100-plus bottles of Bordeaux. The governor who took a free hot tub. The state senator who was given a job that paid $30,000 for doing nothing — and then demanded a raise.
Voters wanted change, politicians wanted to do something, and out of this was borne a real and lasting change that will benefit the public in myriad ways. Even our federal campaign financing system was largely shaped in the ashes of Watergate, with massive amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act being passed in 1974, providing for public financing of presidential races, instated contribution limits, and established the Federal Elections Commission. If we can thank Richard Nixon for anything, it’s for showing the public just how greedy politicians can be.
So while reeling from the shock of whatever the scandal du jour is, history offers an interesting lesson: sometimes, there’s nothing like a little outrage to grease the notoriously slow wheels of government.
