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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 12, 2011 9:01 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=Vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Will Congress Ban Corruption in Its
Midst?</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=left><A href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><IMG
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<DIV class=timestamp>December 11, 2011</DIV>
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<H1><NYT_HEADLINE version="1.0" type=" ">Will Congress Ban Corruption in Its
Midst?</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody><NYT_CORRECTION_TOP></NYT_CORRECTION_TOP>
<P>In a rare instance of Congressional bipartisanship, the Senate and House
Judiciary Committees have quietly approved badly needed measures to tighten the
anticorruption laws applicable to members of Congress. These laws have eroded
across a decade of court decisions, and it remains to be seen whether the full
Congress will tighten bans on fraud and bribe-taking by those in its ranks. </P>
<P>With public approval of Congress in the single digits, the two houses would
be wise to pass the <A
href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.2572:">Clean Up
Government Act of 2011</A>. The measure would strengthen the federal
anti-bribery law that was considerably narrowed by a 2010 Supreme Court decision
saying the statute covers only cases of outright kickback schemes, requiring
proof of quid pro quo corruption. That lets conniving officials off the hook if
they engage in undisclosed self-dealing — like quietly steering a valuable road
plan through land they secretly acquired. </P>
<P>The proposed legislation would let prosecutors once again target
“self-dealing” by public officials who secretly favor their own interests over
the public’s. The measure meets the court’s demand for greater clarity in the
law as applied to this form of deceptive and corrupt conduct. </P>
<P>The bill has been praised by Washington’s good-government organizations.
Taxpayers should be grateful — if not amazed — it has gotten this far on the
wings of Congressional bipartisanship. But the key test is whether the House and
Senate leadership will muster the courage to let such patently good legislation
reach the floor. </P><NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM>
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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>_____________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>