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Reforming, Top Down

By: James Richardson (Diary)  |  December 16th, 2008 at 05:41 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The fact that Republicans lost their credibility with the American public on matters of ethics and corruption is no secret, but what still confounds the Party leadership is that we’ve yet to be miraculously forgiven for our many, many indiscretions.

In an email today to all 168 voting members of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, former Chairman of GOPAC and contender for the RNC Chairman, released his ethics package and proposed the creation of an “Ethical Review Committee.”  The committee, whose stated purpose is to create an ethics pseudo-contract to ensure Republican elected officials will abide by the “highest ethical standards,” will be staffed entirely by current RNC members.

Steele writes:

In addition to losing credibility as the reliable representatives of conservative principles, we Republicans are increasingly seen as challenged on issues of ethics and morality.

The conduct of our leaders should always be beyond reproach. As Party Chairman, I will stand up against those who abuse their public trust. I will assure the RNC leads by example. (Steele’s emphasis)

In a notable attempt to root out future unsavory Republicans – Duke Cunningham, Ted Stevens, Don Young – Steele proposed an embargo on all Party resources for incumbent elected officials who have been convicted on felony charges. In addition to the bar on resources, Steele’s plan calls for ending the RNC-dictated “preferred venders” program, a directive he alleges “diminishes our ethical standing, threatens our credibility with donors, injures the talented professionals who are doing good work, and harms our ability to win.”

To date, Steele is the only candidate to propose such an strict ethics agenda, however MIGOP Chairman Saul Anuzis released his 24-page tech-centric vision for the Party today. Given the relative silence from the remaining candidates, Steele’s proposal stands to position him as the reformer of the bunch — a position I’m sure he appreciates after the Blagojevich fall-out.

Steele’s full “Blueprint for Tomorrow” can be read HERE (PDF).

Cross-posted at Skepticians.com

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COMMENTS

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  • flagtown

    Refusing to support felons for office is just the bold stroke we need to put the Republican Party right back on top!

    • James Richardson

      …With the resources that can and were, in some instances, used to get these guys reelected in previous cycles.

      At the very least, this is a step in the right direction. Moreover, it’s a step that the other candidates have yet to take.

    • Moe Lane

      N/T

      • Moe Lane

        Sorry, guys: the transition from 3.0 to 4.0 meant that we weren’t on top of the usual moby-watching. My bad.

        Moe Lane

        PS: What makes it weird was that the guy was pretty openly a Democrat before the election, with no hassles. Weird.

        • Aaron Gardner

          Like in 2.0 and 3.0?

          • Moe Lane

            NT

          • Aaron Gardner

            n/t

          • Jack_Savage

            Normally it doesn’t take long to stumble across the carcass. Pippin dropped in his tracks, so that one was very easy tonight. Of course, the ones who insist on parsing generally don’t get very far, and Moe normally hits in the vitals anyway.

            However, a little ghost emoticon after the name of the deceased might be a good idea now that I think about it.

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            I thought non-mods could only see that in 2.0.

          • rbdwiggins

            Showed up as: Not Authorized

            Active accounts displayed length of membership, IIRC.

          • DC71

            [I've replaced the now-banned [[troll's]] linkless hit piece with a link to a WaPo hit piece: make up your own mind if this is horrific behavior, particularly when it’s coming from people who routinely lie about who and what they are. – Moe Lane]

          • Moe Lane

            Although I admit that his style of bare knuckle brawling pales in comparison to that of your fellow Democrats.

            Oh, yes: we knew all along. We were just waiting for you to make a mistake, Porter; fitting that you decided to do it in the context of hating on a minority Republican.

            Blam.

            Moe

            PS: I hear that Dan Mattei’s juiced in with Charlie Rangel. That’s going to be fun.

          • Joliphant

            We have been taking it on the chin for quite awhile from the dems. I don’t even want to go into their out and out voter fraud. (Gee we found votes in the trunk of a car, don’t know who cast them but they better be counted).

            So yeah, I’d like to see the party care enough about conservative principles to whats needed to win. At least they would be doing it for a higher purpose.

            I mean really who would you want the side that pulls out all the stops to kill the unborn ? Or the side that does whatever it takes to save children ?

          • Joliphant

            Blammed and replaced before I could even reply.

          • Moe Lane

            This site is not set up for the purpose of letting them scream out all the thoughts bubbling up in their heads; although I should have kept a copy to show around. The way the diction, grammar, and spelling degrades the second some of these people start talking about minority Republicans… sheesh.

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  • 1SGinTN

    but I am leery of his associations with the so-called moderates and the platforms that such associations may engender.

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  • Martin Knight

    And this is not just in terms of appearance (Mr. Anuzis should probably invest in a low-graphic version for download), but content. He not only gives a very good run-down of what went wrong – including media bias (a first, I think) – he seems to have a coherent plan to rebuild, including getting McCain-Feingold struck down, strengthening state parties, candidate recruitment at all levels, e-Operations, etc.

    Link …
    NOTE: It’s a 7MB file.

    If not for the fact that Anuzis does not have anything close to an impressive record to show for his time at the top of the MIGOP (i.e. if he has all these great ideas, how come MI is just getting Bluer and Bluer?), based on his Blueprint alone, he would be my choice at the moment.

  • mbecker908

    Saul used to be a frequent poster here. The Directors should invite him to post a series of diaries on his vision for RNC chair. They should make the same offer to the other candidates. Given that we don’t vote, we probably won’t get a response, but it’s worth a try.

    Also, as you note, I’d be really interested in Saul’s response to the problems the Republican Party has in MI. They’ve pretty well been shut out even with a lousy state economy and real idiots on the Dem ticket.

  • Jack_Savage

    That’s about the only way I can think of to explain Dems’ grip on power in MI.

  • Aaron Gardner

    they are infested with the UAW in their politics, Saul’s challenges as head of the MI GOP are unique and as the RNC Chair he would be a bit more free than he is in MI. At least that is what I have gleaned from him via twitter conversations.

  • mbecker908

    discussion on that particular subject with Saul.

    I’m not handing out “passes” anymore. I like Saul, I liked his blogs and his glossy is interesting, but I’ve got real issues with not being able to make ANY headway in MI. Sidenote: I’m utterly ignorant about MI politics much beyond surface stuff.

  • Aaron Gardner

    and I agree with you on no passes….next time I see him on twitter I will encourage him to come to RS for a chat….;^)

  • mbecker908

    And for the record, I would have no problem with Saul as long as he can address issues and implement a solid rebuilding plan.

    On a couple of specifics, he notes fundraising in his brochure but I’m not big on that, he could hire a fund raiser (I don’t even care if he hired Mike Duncan). The BIG deals are first, defining issues and second, building a bench – recruiting.