For a Christian disciple, the more faithful you are, the more is expected of you. The same is true for federal office-holders-- the more powerful a position you have in Congress, the more is expected of you ethically. Unfortunately, we see too often in the news headlines of members of the powerful House Appropriations Committee abusing their position for personal gain.

Recently, as Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey Birnbaum report in the Washington Post, Congressman John Doolittle has paid his wife some $170,000 from his federal political committees over the last several years for fundraising. Julie Doolittle performs fundraising services for him; she gets paid for every single donation received by Doolittle's PAC. An analysis by TheRestofUs, a reform org., shows that nearly 60% of the donations for which Julie Doolittle received a commission in 2004-5 came from people or groups who were already Doolittle donors. More than half the battle in fundraising is finding donors.

The general public looks up to leaders in Congress; it is expected that those leaders look to their consciences from time to time in their daily public duties.

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