Democratic Senate hopeful Robin Carnahan laid out an ethics plan this week aimed at putting her Republican rival on the hot seat -- but she may also have tweaked a member of her own family as well.
In a three-city tour on Tuesday, Carnahan proposed reforms that, while sounded before, would he hard to pass in the U.S. Senate, a body accustomed to its own quixotic code of transparency.
For instance: Senate candidates, unlike those running for seats in the lower chamber of Congress, do not have to file their campaign reports electronically -- even though they are often far more voluminous than their House counterparts. The result is that it's easier to search a Senate candidate's Twitter page than it is to look for who is funding their campaign.
Carnahan says she would push for candidates to file campaign finance reports once a month, instead of quarterly. She also wants to tighten disclosure requirements on campaign "bundlers," and close the Capitol Hill/K Street revolving door by banning, for life, former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.
Her plan would seek as well to abolish earmarks -- those clandestine tools for Congressional appropriations -- a refrain often heard from Missouri's current Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill.
In addition, Carnahan says she would get rid of all leadership PACs, which candidates use to gain additional coin beyond their campaign accounts, typically to help political allies.
Carnahan's likely November opponent, Republican Roy Blunt, has a leadership PAC, the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund. (a.k.a. the "ROY B Fund")
But Blunt hardly has a trademark on leadership PACs, or, for that matter, clever names. U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay lays claim to the Just Permanent Interests Political Action Committee, borrowing one of his father's favorite phrases.
The Arch Leadership PAC belongs to none other than Robin's brother, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, a point that Republican Ed Martin -- challenging Russ' bid for a fourth term -- was all too happy to point out.
"This harsh criticism," Martin's campaign said in a news release, "will undoubtedly lead to some awkward family events."
Maybe it already has.
