Congressional Old Boys' Network at Play

Steve Goldstein's article in today's Inquirer on Congressman and Democratic mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah's golf hobby ("For Fattah, vote record can be a sand trap") has been noted by a number of bloggers today. The part that I considered most significant is this:

Fattah said his signature legislative achievement, the GEAR UP program that has contributed more than $2 billion nationally since 1999 to help low-income students in their college aspirations, owes its passage to a game of golf.

In 1997, Fattah was playing a round with Republican members of his committee and asked them to support his bill. When he began to describe it, one GOP member said, "We don't want to know the details; we'll be available," Fattah said.

The bill passed the GOP-controlled committee, with Fattah's golf buddies either abstaining or voting for passage - against the will of their leadership. While he declined to disclose his partners' names, one of Fattah's GOP colleagues confirms the incident.

There are a number of things about this that bother me.

1) People are voting on legislation not on its merit but because they play golf with the legislation's sponsor. They don't want to know the details? Gah!

2) None of the golf buddies mentioned in the article are female. Golf still tends to be predominately a man's game and legislative favors traded there, again, regardless of the legislation's merit, will exclude women legislators.

3) According to the paper his signature legislation was passed in 1997? That was ten years ago.