In an all-staff email sent today by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's chief of staff Susan McCue, Senator Reid ordered all of his staff to abide by new, more stringent Senate ethics rules that haven't even yet been passed by the full Senate.
In a nutshell, Senate and House Democrats will introduce this Wednesday a comprehensive set of ethics reforms for the Senate and House. The package is called "The Honest Leadership Act." But Reid isn't waiting to see if the new reforms are passed by the Congress. He's adopting them immediately for his entire staff.
I think we all need to phone 99 other US Senators' office and ask them if they plan to follow Harry Reid's lead and immediately adopt the more stringent ethic rules of The Honest Leadership Act for their offices. Or do they care less about ethics than Harry Reid?
TAKE ACTION:
Use this link to find your Senators' phone numbers and email addresses, then contact both of your Senators and ask them if they will be following Harry Reid's lead by adopting "The Honest Leadership Act" as the new ethics rules for their office. And if not, why not?
Feel free to call now. Why not give them an answering machine full of messages to come to work to in the morning.
Here's the email Reid's chief of staff sent to all staff earlier today:
From: McCue, Susan (Reid)
To: [All Staff]
Sent: Mon Jan 16 19:32:46 2006
Subject:
All Staff:
This Wed, Jan 18, Sen. Reid will be unveiling an unprecedented set of reforms in an Honest Leadership Act to be introduced jointly by Senate and House Democrats. The Honest Leadership Act will clean out the corruption and cronyism that have broken the public's confidence in government, and it will prevent abuses of power in the future
If real reform is going to happen in Washington, Democrats must lead the way. What distinguishes our reform bill is its scope and our commitment to getting it done. To that end, we will walk the talk. Our office will adhere to proposed reforms in the Honest Leadership Act immediately. Every one of you does exemplary work. Team Reid is known for building public trust in government, and we will help fix the parts others have broken.
A key proposal in the Act, known as "The Jack Abramoff Rule," will ban staff and members from receiving gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists. Current office policy follows current Ethics Committee rules allowing gifts and meals under $50 and requiring full disclosure of lobbyist-related travel. Effective tomorrow, these rules will be changed in our office to reflect the Honest Leadership Act Sen. Reid is introducing. As such, no employee in Sen. Reid's federal offices will be allowed to receive any meals, gifts or travel from lobbyists. Our office policy manual will be updated. As with other office policies, any violation of this rule will be subject to disciplinary action up to termination.
Again, each of you bring honor and pride to Senator Reid, the State of Nevada and the country. You represent what good government is all about. These changes are an effort to lead by example and bring others along. Kevin Kayes will be hold a staff briefing on the Honest Leadership Act later this week to ensure everyone understands the provisions of the bill and changes from current policy. Please see Kevin or David McCallum if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Susan
