The 10 members of the 9/11 Commission are divided equally along partisan lines, five Dems and five Republicans. It makes the panel bi-partisan, not non-partisan.
And as active members of their respective political parties, I can appreciate their desire to participate in the process during an election year. In this case, however, I wish they wouldn’t.
Roll Call reported this week that most of the Commission’s members, despite fears about partisan bias, continue to give generously to candidates, including Bush and Kerry. (The New York Times played catch-up on the story today.)
A majority of 9/11 commissioners have continued to make campaign contributions as they have investigated the most deadly attack on U.S. soil in 60 years, including a pair of donations to President Bush and two to his challenger in November.
While none of the members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States have openly campaigned for presidential candidates, several have backed up their party affiliations with campaign contributions.
Legally, I know these members can contribute freely to anyone they choose. But for the sake of appearances, and to diffuse potential criticisms about partisanship, it seems to me they’re better off keeping their checkbooks closed until after the report is completed.
This has nothing to do with partisanship. In light of the Commission’s responsibilities, I’d prefer to see both sides strive to maintain an appearance of neutrality.
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), for example, cut a $20,000 check from excess campaign funds at the end of March to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the behest of his former colleagues. One member of the commission, former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, gave to three of the Democratic presidential candidates who sought the nomination to oust Bush, including presumptive nominee John Kerry (D-Mass.)
A pair of leading Republicans on the commission, former Illinois Gov. James Thompson and former Navy Secretary John Lehman, both gave the maximum amount, $2,000, from their own pockets to Bush-Cheney ’04, Inc.
There’s something particularly untoward about donations to Bush and Kerry at this point. Bush is in office, the Commission is investigating exactly what he did before 9/11, and the panel may be called upon to offer important criticisms of his handling of the worst attack in U.S. history. At the same time, some of the Commission’s members are donating directly to Bush’s campaign and that of his Dem rival.
Again, there’s nothing illegal about this, but it smells really bad.
I picture a caricature of Jim Thompson visiting the White House to help question Bush in the Oval Office and then dropping off $2,000 on Karl Rove’s desk on his way out the door. That’s not what happened, of course, but it reinforces an image Thompson should want to avoid.
Al Felzenberg, a spokesperson for the Commission, said there are limits on political activities for the Commission’s staff.
Felzenberg said that staff of the commission were expressly forbidden from campaigning for candidates or from attending rallies. “We’re deliberately a nonpartisan staff,” he said.
But this, too, is troubling. Is there one standard for staff and another for the actual commissioners? If there’s concern about the appearance of partisanship, one would hope it would be applied Commission-wide. Moreover, what’s the point of a restriction that prohibits attendance at a rally but permits donations that allow the rally to be held in the first place?
It just creates a tough sell. The members of this Commission continue to emphasize that they’re approaching their work with an eye for truth, not politics. By and large, I think the panelists have done an admirable job. It undermines their credibility a bit, however, when they say they’re unconcerned with partisanship but turn around and donate generously to partisan candidates.
Oh, and to give credit where credit is due, some of the panelists haven’t made any political contributions while serving on the Commission — Lee Hamilton (D), Tim Roemer (D), Fred Fielding (R), and Richard Ben-Veniste (D).