There is a time-honored Washington ritual going on right now.
It is called bribery.
Congressmen and presidents can do it and get away with it. Congress is debating whether it should pass so-called Fast Track Authority for Barack Obama to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. This so-called free trade agreement is a massive undertaking involving 13 nations and possibly more later on.
The vote will be very close. The left is right on this issue, for once. Unions and other liberal organizations are fighting this deal. Conservatives oppose this deal too, for other reasons.
So what is the leadership doing to try and pass this bill? It is buying votes.
In Congress, when leadership wants a Member’s vote and the Member doesn’t want to give it to them, they buy it. Leadership offers the member something they want. Unfortunately, members of Congress seem to be very much like Charlie Brown. Lucy holds out the football for him to kick and every time, she pulls it away and Charlie Brown goes flying on his back.
Members of Congress who are thinking about selling their votes and ignoring the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose fast track authority for Obamatrade should think about the past.
In 2010, in order to pass Obamacare, then-Sens. Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu famously sold their votes. Mr. Nelson’s was called the “Cornhusker Kickback” and Ms. Landrieu’s as the “Louisiana Purchase.” Both lost their elections later that year and neither got the benefit of their bargain.
In 2005, Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt was pressured to vote for the Central America Free Trade Agreement. He wanted protection for sock manufacturers in his district. He got the promise, gave his vote and never got what he asked for. Ten years later, he is still waiting and the sock manufacturers in his district are gone.
In the 1990s, when then-President Bill Clinton was pushing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Congressman Sam Farr asked for protections in the NAFTA agreement for the cut flower industry in his district. He voted for NAFTA and imports from Mexico exploded, destroying that industry in his district.
In 1997, then-Congressman Matthew Martinez voted to give Bill Clinton fast track authorization. Mr. Martinez agreed after Mr. Clinton offered a highway extension as the bribe. Mr. Clinton got fast track. Mr. Martinez never got his highway and eventually lost his job.
Senators and congressmen are allegedly among the best and brightest in this nation. Yet for people who are so bright, they can be bought for so little.
Prosecutors and law enforcement officers who work public corruption cases often shake their heads at how little it takes to bribe a public official. The official going price for a vote is now simply a promise that most people realize will never be honored.
There is a message for congressmen who are thinking about trading their votes on Fast Track for Obamatrade in exchange for some benefit. The message is simple.
Don’t do it because you aren’t going to get what you are selling your office for.
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