No sense in this censure

Since the first Congress was called to order in 1789, there have been over 10,000 members of the House of Representatives. Twenty-four of them, before this session, had been censured for some form of serious misconduct, none having to do with normal legislative process.

In 1861, as the Civil War began, four members were censured and expelled for “supporting the Confederate rebellion. Since then, most censures have come after conviction in federal court on bribery or some other money mischief. In 2002, the last time anyone was censured, Jim Trafficant, a Democrat, was censured and later went to prison. He had been “Convicted on 10 counts including bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, corruption, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, and racketeering.” The vote to expel was 420 to one, a manifestation of honor above party.

Today, we are witnessing something very different and distressing. Rep. Anna Paulina Lara, in her first term and a member of the Freedom Caucus, introduced a censure motion that was first defeated with 20 Republicans voting “no.” They did so, I think, not on its substance, but on its absurdity. Luna proposed that Adam Schiff reimburse the government $16 million, half of what the committee had legitimately spent to investigate Trump campaign connections to Russia.

When she took out the $16 million, all the Republicans voted for the new measure of censure. On a party-line vote, 213-209, it passed. All Republicans, including ours, voted to censure a colleague whose only sin was being a Democrat opposed to Donald Trump’s excesses. That, they should acknowledge, is not a criminal act or federal crime.

In her short time in Congress, Lara has risen to compete with fellow freshman George Santos. She described a break-in to her apartment that maybe didn’t occur, or certainly not as she described it. She claimed to be Jewish although she is not. She cited her father who was raised Catholic but had become a Messianic Jew who believes Jesus was the Messiah. Jewish Jews don’t. In fairness, I should acknowledge that a recent DNA test found a tiny, tiny bit of Jewish genes. The archbishop of Canterbury, maybe the Pope, could have as much.

Here’s her charge: “Adam Schiff launched an all-out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting U.S. president at the expense of every single citizen in this country.”

Her resolution accuses Schiff of misleading the public about collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia during a congressional investigation.

Lara said that Schiff’s comments that there was evidence against Trump “ripped apart American families across the country” and that he was “permanently destroying family relationships.” What is she talking about?

What Rep. Lara and her 212 Republican allies are doing to the integrity of the House makes Jim Traficant look like a Founding Father of vision and integrity. What they are doing is an insult to 10,000 men and women who served before them. They are even an insult to the Republican Party of yesterday.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.