Henry Waxman: Democratic with Political Agenda

Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has a Political Agenda. This agenda is detailed in a published article by Oliver North. (Henry Waxman: Witch Hunter in Chief)

Based on Mr. Waxman's actions, the Congressman believes that the real enemy in America is The Republican Party Generally, and President George Bush in particular.

Since becoming committee chairman, Waxman has initiated numerous investigations into the activities of the Bush administration. According to his own news releases, he has probed -- if that's the right word -- the case of Valerie Plame, the celebrity CIA operative; Karl Rove; medical treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; Karl Rove; Defense Department and State Department contracting practices; Vice President Dick Cheney; Karl Rove; construction and hiring practices at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; and the democratically elected government of Iraq, and he has tried to smear the White House over erroneous reports on the tragic death of Pat Tillman and the rescue of Jessica Lynch. Other than reducing entire forests to pulp for the paper to print his reports, the American people, in whose name all this is being done, have precious little to show for his tireless work.

Mr. Waxman is, according to some, a person who is very good at writing laws. But the record does not exactly reflect that fact. In fact it shows otherwise.

Notwithstanding Waxman's billing as a legislator who loves to "write laws, and he has been extraordinarily good at it," only three of the 95 bills he has sponsored in the past decade have been enacted. Seventy-seven of them were so good that they didn't even make their way out of committee. [emphasis mine]

According to a Time Magazine article published shortly after the November 2006 National Elections, Congressman Waxman is the Eliot Ness of the Democrats, and Waxman's supporters claim he is a strong supporter and advocate for transparency in Government. But the record does not exactly reflect that fact either.

Waxman's supporters describe him as a crusader for transparency in government. But the Time magazine flattery feature failed to disclose that the Time Warner Political Action Committee was the number one donor -- $13,500 -- to his 2006 re-election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Perhaps this revelation will prompt him to investigate the Federal Election Commission.

As I recall, the real Elliot Ness didn't ask the Political Affiliation of those who were the targets of his investigations. A look at Congressman Waxman's actions don't show this same Political Indifference.

Apparently Waxman's quest for full accountability in government contracting applies only to Republicans. According to Politico, a Capitol Hill publication, the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service have been exploring whether Reps. Paul Kanjorski and Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania -- both cronies of Waxman -- improperly earmarked millions of dollars in defense contracts to a firm owned by members of Kanjorski's family. Thus far, Waxman has indicated no interest in the matter.

That same Time article claimed that the Congressman's staff is one of the most highly regarded staffs on Capitol Hill. But the record does not exactly reflect that fact either.

In July, while investigating hiring abuses in the construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, this vaunted staff "invited" -- to use Waxman's word -- Mr. Rory Mayberry to testify about how the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was being built by kidnapped Filipino workers.

At the time, Mayberry was described as a whistle-blower who had courageously come forward to describe how unwilling Filipinos were dragooned into building our diplomatic mission. All the major news networks covered his shocking "revelations." But this week, The Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" revealed that the committee's star witness "has a string of convictions going back to the mid-1980s, including two for forgery, one for burglary and a fourth for welfare fraud." So much for good staff work.

Corruption in Government is something over which neither party has a monopoly. Therefore, Congressman Henry Waxman is not to be applauded for attempts to smear the Republican Party in General, and the Bush Administration specifically. There is plenty of real Corruption which Mr. Waxman's Committee could legitimately investigate. If he would do so, Congressman Waxman would be doing the Country a real Service. As it is he is creating more division and Political Point Scoring at a time when we need to come together, united.