Mankato Free Press: Walz wants independent ethics watchdog for House
In Walz wants independent ethics watchdog for House, Mark Fischenich reports:
Congressman Tim Walz has joined a group of other congressional freshmen in pushing for an independent ethics commission to judge wrongdoing by lawmakers, a commission that would replace the House Ethics Committee.
“I’m uncomfortable with members policing their own members,” said Walz, referring to the existing system.
The new commission would consist of 12 retired members of Congress, six from each of the major political parties. In a twist, the Democratic leader of the House would pick the Republican members of the commission, and the Republican leader would choose the Democrats.
The current House Ethics Committee is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and the committee was often deadlocked in dealing with ethical complaints as members refused to cross party lines to punish a member of their own party. . . .
There's more. Roll Call first reported on the bill on April 9; see our post here.
Albert Lea Tribune: Seven easy steps to kill your town
In its editorial, How to pull together for A.L., the paper reprints a letter that outlines the seven easy steps to kill a small town.
Cottonwood County Citizen: An admirable man
A self-described dyed-in-the-wool Republican mourns the passing of a Windom-area Democrat in In Knutson, community lost an admirable man.
Winona Daily News: Democracy in the park
In DemocraStock offers place for free speech, the Winona Daily News reports that a "Manifest Democracy" class at WSU is taking it to the streets:
It’s easy to get up on a figurative soapbox, posting opinions anonymously on the Internet. But when given a literal soapbox, will people have the courage to state the same convictions?
That’s what Kurt Hohenstein’s Winona State University “Manifest Democracy” class hopes to find out today at DemocraStock, a free speech celebration at the Lake Park Bandshell.
Getting on a soapbox has become more of a metaphor, but people used to get up on wooden crate soapboxes and speak their minds. People have been doing it at Speaker’s Corner in London’s Hyde Park on Sundays since 1872.
The class has made two actual soapboxes for people to say whatever they want. . . .
. . . Democracy was alive and well in class when Hohenstein, 51, suggested calling the event Democrapalooza. The students deemed it “too whack.” The students modeled DemocraStock loosely after the original Woodstock.Jam bands … In the Attic from Winona and Piper Club from Woodville, Wis., will perform. There will also be free hot dogs and voter registration tables.
In the commitees: busy schedule
What sort of testimony has Congressman Walz been hearing this week in committee assignments?
Today, Transportation's Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee holds a hearing on “FEMA’s (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Emergency Food Supply System.” 2253 Rayburn 2253 Rayburn. Walz is a subcommitee member.
As a member of the Agriculture Committee. Walz sits on the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy Research, which met yesterday at 1 p.m. Open statements can be found here now; transcripts will be made available later.
Two Minnesotans testified: David E. Nomsen (links to statement), Vice-president of Governmental Affairs, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, on behalf of Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group and the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, Garfield, and Loni Kemp (links to statement), Senior Policy Analyst, The Minnesota Project, Canton. Garfield is northwest of Alexandria, but Canton is in southeastern Minnesota.
As a member of the Veterans Affairs committee, Walz sits on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Yesterday, it met at 10 a.m. to hear testimony on “Surgical Services at the W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina.” On Transportation and infrastructure, Walz is on the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee which held a hearing also at 10 a.m. on “International High-Speed Rail Systems.”
On Wednesday, April 18, the Veterans Committee met to markup H.R.1642, the “Homeless Veterans Housing at Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center Promotion Act”; and hearing on H.R.23, the “The Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act,” to provide benefits to certain individuals who served in the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) during World War II. In the same time slot, Transportation met to consider testimony on “Proposals to Downsize the Federal Protective Service and Effects on the Protection of Federal Buildings.”
We'll ask Walz's staff about what happens when there are conflicting committee schedules as in the cases above.
Update: Meredith Salsbury, Walz's communications chief, sent us this explanatory note:
Congressman Walz does what he can to be a part of both Committee hearings. When he is unable to divide his time between hearings, he sends staff to the hearings he can't attend and reviews the staff briefing afterwards. He also consults with colleagues who took part in the hearings.
Comments