Melissa Hart does the Right thing (again)

And again, I'll leave it to the reader to decide whether the title is a pun.

Here's something I picked up at her website. Let's get the nit-picky stuff out of the way first. The webmaster (mistress??) over there titled the press release:

Congresswoman Hart Applauds Introduction of the Public Trust and Accountability Act

But then take a look at the first couple of paragraphs:

Congresswoman Melissa Hart, a member of the House Ethics Committee, issued the following statement today on the introduction of the Public Trust and Accountability Act.

“One of the most important responsibilities any federal government employee is charged with, especially elected members of the Congress and the Executive Branch, is to uphold the integrity of public service,” said Hart, who is an original co-sponsor of the measure.

So wait a second. She co-sponsored the bill, and yet she's applauding its introduction?

Doesn't that mean she's applauding something she herself did?

Maybe I am reading too much into it. Can I go to work today and do my job and then issue a press release applauding the fact that that job was done?

In any event, here's what her press release says about the act:

The Public Trust and Accountability Act amends current law (5 USC 8312) and expands its scope to ensure that all federal employees, elected and appointed, convicted of federal “white-collar” offenses such as bribery, illegal solicitation of gifts or campaign contributions and perjury, also lose their pension benefits.

This all seems pretty clear. BUT (as there always is in these sorts of stories) there's more. The Post-Gazette has this to say:

Pennsylvania Rep. Melissa Hart and a group of House colleagues introduced a proposal yesterday that would force federal employees to give up their pensions if convicted of such crimes as bribery, solicitation of gifts or perjury.

The group said the recent revelations about former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who took $2.4 million in bribes from defense firms in exchange for helping them to win government contracts, had spurred the lawmakers to fight for more severe punishments for officials who misuse their office.

Ms. Hart, R-Bradford Woods, said the intent of the legislation was to show the public that Congress will not stand for abuses of public trust. "When public servants fail to meet their responsibilities, and especially when they choose to break the law in these ways, it's important for us to show we mean business and we won't accept that kind of behavior," she said.

An article in The Hill quotes Congresswoman Hart:

“Members of Congress did not condone [Cunningham’s actions]. In fact, members of Congress are pretty angry about it.”

HOWEVER (and you're gonna love this) tucked in the tail end, the very last paragraph of the P-G article is this:

The act would not be retroactive -- meaning it would not affect the pension of Mr. Cunningham or an official such as I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on five counts, including perjury and making false statements, related to an inquiry into the public disclosure of a covert CIA operative's identity.

So basically, no matter how angry the Republicans have gotten over the Duke-stir and even though, in Congresswoman Hart's words, they don't condone his actions, the law that rose in reaction to Cunningham's various corruptions still wouldn't apply to him.

So even if Tom Delay's found guilty of the "white collar" crime that Hart's "Accountability Act" describes, he'd still get his government pension - am I reading this right?

So the whole thing is just a smoke screen, isn't it? They get to look like they're doing something about the corruption in the House (with this threat to cut off pensions), but for the big guns IN the House who are currently under indictment, their pensions are protected.

Melissa Hart, always doing the Right thing...

And, yes. It is a pun.