A plea for ethics

I’ve signed on to the following letter, hosted by NZ Bear[*1]

An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Signed,

N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear[*2]
Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com[*3]
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com[*4]
Kevin Aylward, Wizbang![*5]
La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber’s Corner[*6]
Lorie Byrd, Polipundit[*7]
Beth Cleaver, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy[*8]
Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom[*9]
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit[*10]
John Hawkins, Right Wing News[*11]
John Hinderaker, Power Line[*12]
Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO[*13]
James Joyner, Outside The Beltway[*14]
Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org[*15]
Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com[*16]
Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters[*17]
Scott Ott, Scrappleface[*18]
John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!![*19]