We can now add the Mobile Register to the list of newspapers deeply troubled by the attempted bribe of Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) on the House floor during the Medicare vote.
The Register ran an editorial today calling on the House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
“Rep. Smith ought to describe, while being polygraphed, exactly who said what to him and when,” the Register said today. “Political loyalty to his usual Republican allies shouldn’t override his duty to tell the whole truth. House leaders, along with the Bush Justice Department, ought to make sure the truth is outed — and, if Rep. Smith was illegally pressured, somebody ought to serve time.”
I may not endorse the whole polygraph idea, but the Register’s heart is in the right place. I particularly like the part about the need for “somebody” to “serve time” for this.
Granted, the Mobile Register isn’t huge, but every little bit of media pressure helps and, I believe, has a cumulative effect.