IS PARTISANSHIP IN CONGRESS A CRIME?
Dan Bolling
Author & Documentarian, with Visionary Leaders in Congress, of Upcoming book & Documentary : "A Non-Partisan Congress: It's The Law"
In The Interest Of Better Governance, Should We Be Asking:
Is Partisanship In Congress A Crime?
Federal Law prohibits Federal Employees from “engaging in political activities on-duty, or in the Federal workplace”
– US Office of Special Counsel
“those who make [the laws] shall not exempt themselves”
Page 131 of the Rules of the House of Representatives
Since partisan activity is illegal in the Federal workplace, and Members of Congress “shall not exempt themselves” AND considering the following statements of Members of Congress, can we conclude that partisanship in Congress (Party Leaders & Party Caucuses & Partisan Elections) is on shaky legal ground? (POLITICO presents a solution)
Video of Representative Steny HOYER
Video of Representative Olympia SNOWE
Video of Representative Lee HAMILTON
Related Video, on FOIA covering CONGRESS, Former Speaker, John BOEHNER
Representative Fred UPTON:
"...it is high time that Congress starts to do what it asks everyone else to do: Live under its own laws."
Representative Ro KHANNA:
"Lawmakers ought to live under the laws that they pass."
Representative Jackie SPEIER:
"We are here to serve and we are not above the law."
Representative Mac THORNBERRY:
"Members of Congress are subject to the same laws as all Americans"
Senator Ted CRUZ:
"There shouldn't be a gilded class in Washington that operates on different rules"
Senator Rand PAUL:
"Congress should never pass any law if they are exempted from it."
Senator James INHOFE:
"James Madison, in his writing in 1788 in the Federalist Papers, said: ‘CONGRESS CAN MAKE NO LAW WHICH WOULD NOT HAVE ITS FULL OPERATION ON THEMSELVES’ "
Senator Ben CARDIN:
"No one is above the law"
Senator John GLENN:
“by enacting laws for others and then exempting ourselves we have done great damage to the public perception of Congress”
Senator Cory BOOKER:
"no one–not a U.S. Senator, not a Congressperson, not even a President–is above the laws"
Senator Tom CARPER:
"no one in America is above the law."
Representative Elijah CUMMINGS:
“Nobody is above the law."
Senator Joseph LIEBERMAN:
“we can no longer live above the law. It is not just that the public will not stand for it, they should not stand for it…this kind of double standard. It undercuts the basic trust that is a precondition of our democracy…in Federalist 57, Madison wrote the Congress can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends as well as on the great mass of the society.”
Representative Mike GALLAGHER:
"no one, including this body, is above the law."
Representative Al GREEN:
"Members of Congress are not above the law."
Senator Martin HEINRICH:
"No one–I repeat, no one–is above the law"
Representative Marcy KAPTUR:
"No one is above the law in our country."
Senator Charles GRASSLEY:
“Moral leadership means we do not just pass laws for the rest of the Nation, and exempt ourselves.
“It means we pass laws and we apply them to ourselves, as well.
“We set the example.
“We say one thing, and we do it, too.”
Senator Amy KLOBUCHAR:
"no one–no one–is above the law"
Senator Patty MURRAY:
"I am going to keep fighting against those who think they are above the law."
Delegate Eleanor Holmes NORTON:
“We will never be respected until we are brought under the same laws as everybody else.”
Representative Bill PASCRELL:
"I am not above the law."
Senator Chuck SCHUMER:
“the idea that anyone in America is above the law is antithetical to the very idea of America, antithetical to the very idea of democracy”
Senator Tina SMITH:
"no one, not even our elected leaders, is above the law."
Representative Peter WELCH:
“Mr. Speaker, no American is above the law, no Member of Congress is above the law”
Senator Mark WARNER:
"Under our constitutional system, no one is above the law."
Representative Jamie RASKIN:
“in America, we live and die by the rule of law under democracy. The rule of law is the revolutionary idea, the one that our forebears fought for in the 18th century, that the most powerful officials in the land will be governed just like everybody else...We have no kings here. We have no queens here. We have no royalty. We have just we the people, a government of laws, not of men...The rule of law is the idea that even the people who occupy the highest office in the land are subject to the Constitution, are subject to the laws... So let's get that straight. No one is above the law.”
Representative Bradley BYRNE:
“As Thomas Paine said in 1776: ``In free countries, the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.''...no person, regardless of their position, will ever be above the law”
Senator Tom UDALL:
"In the United States, no man or woman is above the law."
Representative Gus BILIRAKIS:
"In our country, lawmakers are not above the law."
Senator Chris MURPHY:
“Democracy doesn’t work unless its leaders choose to follow the rules”
Representative Steny HOYER:
“all are equal under the law. No one is exempt.”
Senator Jeff MERKLEY:
“If we walked out of this Chamber right now, proceeded through the double doorways, and down the steps of the Capitol, we would be staring at the beautiful building of the Supreme Court. The entire building symbolizes the role of justice in our society. As you look at that magnificent Supreme Court--the broad, marble steps leading up to the door--you see these simple words inscribed above: ‘EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW.’ It is right there. You can almost see it from where I am standing now: ‘EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW.”
Senator Dan COATS:
“How can they write reasonable legislation...and say: Well, that is not for me. It is for you, but since I am writing the bill, I can write an exemption for myself.”
Congresswoman Anna ESHOO:
“We are not a banana republic. We don't have people in charge of the government that stand above the law or just disregard it.”
Congressman Ted YOHO:
“We are not above the law.”
Senator John THUNE:
“Do we really want to set the precedent that wielding political power places an individual above the law?”
Senator David VITTER:
“Whatever is applied to those who are ruled needs to be applied equally in full force and in the same way to those who make up the rules.”
Senator Charles GRASSLEY:
“nothing makes Americans madder than knowing that they have to live by laws that their Representatives in Congress do not…The time has come to end the exemptions. There is one set of laws that applies equally.”
Senator Bob SMITH:
“the American people hold Congress as an institution in very low regard…based in large part on the perception that Congress is an arrogant and imperial body that has placed itself above the law…[T]his perception has been well grounded in reality…Congress indeed has placed itself above the law...not what the Founding Fathers of our great Nation intended…
“Madison assured the American people that under the Constitution, Congress…’can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends.’
“…Thomas Jefferson, another pretty well-known founder, noted that ‘the framers of our Constitution took care to provide that the laws should bind equally on all, and especially that those who make them shall not exempt themselves from their operation.’ “
Representative Lee HAMILTON:
“the widespread perception that Members have exempted themselves from many laws significantly undermines the confidence of the American people in this institution.”
Representative Paul McHALE:
“in our system of justice we cannot have two tiers. All members of our society, be they private citizens or Members of the Congress, are governed by the rule of law, the same rule of law.”
Senator Charles GRASSLEY:
“Human nature being what it is, there is still always a temptation for those in power to think they are above the law.”
Senator Ted CRUZ:
“Rule of law means no man is above the law. It means that everyone, everyone, everyone...is bound by the law.”
Senator Tim RICE:
“This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue. It is not a Tea Party action...no American...is above the law.”
Representative Steny HOYER:
“No one is exempt… all of us, all Americans, are equal under the law.”
Representative John CULBERSON:
“The law as written by Congress is fundamental to our entire system of government. Our liberty lies in the enforcement of law. It is the most fundamental principle of a republic. This great Nation was founded on that principle that no one is above the law and the law shall be enforced equally and fairly to everybody”
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ADDITIONAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“polarization has slowed economic growth”
Timothy Frye, Columbia University, “The Perils of Polarization”, in World Politics, April 2002