David Plouffe agrees: take ethics seriously

By CREW Staff

Congress, Elections, Ethics, News, Washington Post

David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama-Biden in 2008, is urging congressional Democrats to take ethics reform seriously or else they could pay the price in November.

In his Washington Post op-ed on Sunday, Plouffe cited the same Gallup poll that was cited by CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan in her Jan. 14 column on the Huffington Post. Sloan expressed concern that the 2010 election "may be shaping up as a return to same old, same old" because several ethically challenged current or ex-officeholders are running or considering runs for Congress or governor. She wrote:

... those who assume that in the post-Abramoff era Americans no longer are concerned about ethics should think again. Two months ago, for the first time since Gallup began polling on the issue, a majority of Americans rated the honesty and ethics of members of Congress as either low or very low. Even car salespeople were ranked better.

In his op-ed, Plouffe cited ethics reform as a key issue in this election year -- one that Democrats must take seriously or risk suffering a major defeat in November. Plouffe wrote:

"Change" is not just about policies. ... we have to make sure the freshman and sophomore members of the House who won in part on transparency and (ethics) reform issues can show they are delivering. The Republicans will suggest they have changed their spots, but the GOP cannot hold a candle to us on reform issues. Let's make sure we own this space.