Ensign Plays "Nevada Hold 'Em"

The following letter appeared in today’s New York Times…

Your Sept. 27 editorial “Let the Sunshine In” left your readers in the dark on the issue of transparency in the Senate. I support electronic filing of fund-raising reports in the Senate because, as we probably agree, disclosure leads to more transparency in government. I have never had a secret hold on this bill.

In the same spirit of transparency, I requested a vote on my amendment that would require groups filing ethics complaints against senators to reveal who is financing their efforts. Light needs to shine on this increasingly abused process, but Democrats are clearly afraid of voting on my amendment.

Your editorial compared the House and the Senate, but on this issue there is a big difference. In the House, a member of Congress has to file a complaint. In the Senate, there are no requirements — anyone can do it anonymously, without even a signature. The result of the Democrats’ blocking my amendment is that people can continue to hide in the dark to lob partisan attacks against senators.

John Ensign
U.S. Senator from Nevada
Washington, Sept. 28, 2007

Uh, no.

Democrats are not “clearly afraid” of voting on the amendment, Senator. As stated here (from The Politico, just to show Ensign that I’m giving him the advantage of Repug-friendly media here)…

When (Sen. Russ) Feingold and (Sen. Dianne) Feinstein tried to bring up the (bill requiring electronic filing of campaign disclosure reports by Senate campaigns) under unanimous consent, Ensign objected, and tried to attach an amendment requiring groups that file complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee to disclose their donors. The Democrats rejected that proposal, arguing that it was not germane to their bill and needed to go through the committee review process. Ensign then refused to allow the electronic disclosure bill from being considered.

You guys aren’t in charge anymore, Senator. Try playing by someone else’s rules for a change.