Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) You could call them Northern Virginia’s “Old Guard” Congressmen, a Republican and a Democrat who lament the current polarized state on Capitol Hill, but see some hope for its return.
Former Congressmen Jim Moran, a Democrat, and Tom Davis, a Republican, have remained friends after thirteen overlapping years representing neighboring districts in Northern Virginia through the 90s and early 2000s, perhaps a throwback to more cooperative times.
“One of the problems with the Congress today is that it becomes increasingly difficult to deliver for your constituents,” Moran said. “There’s too much money in politics. There’s too much ‘gotcha’ stuff.”
Moran spoke at a ribbon-cutting for the widening of Route 1 around Fort Belvoir, funded by what is commonly known as the “last earmark” before Congress instituted a moratorium on such spending.
Davis said that kind of incentive could be just what Congress needs to grease the skids.
“If you bring back earmarks and let Congress start designating some projects, then everybody’s got skin in the game,” Davis told WMAL. “It makes the legislative process flow a little bit smoother.”
Davis placed the blame on media that encourages conflict and polarization, along with voters who have been trained to look down on compromises.
“You end up in a system where bad behavior gets rewarded, and good behavior gets punished,” he said.
Both Davis and Moran agreed that money is playing a nefarious role as well. Moran said leadership has become beholden to it.
“The leadership oftentimes focuses on hot-button issues, when what they ought to be focusing on is the things that families talk about at the kitchen table,” Moran said. “They don’t care so much about the hot-button issues that seem to drive fundraising, but don’t do much for the electorate.”
Davis said recent campaign finance regulations have pushed money to the fringe.
“The money no longer goes to the parties and candidates. They can’t take this so-called soft money,” he said. “But the money didn’t disappear from the system. It’s gone out to the wings now and the ideological groups, which I think is an even worse result and a more polarizing result.”
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