Is Senator Specter taking his job seriously, or is this just election year posturing?

Yesterday, much to my surprise, Sen. Arlen Specter, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a rather tersely worded letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, admonishing the veep for lobbying Republican members of his committee. Apparently, Cheney had contacted other Senators on the Judiciary Committee urging them to oppose any hearings involving the question of phone companies turning over millions of customer records to the NSA. My question is, is the good Senator actually sincere in his indignation over the administration overstepping its bounds, or is this simply an election year stunt to improve the chances of Republican victories in November? For the sake of our nation, I’m hoping it’s the former, but my cynical gut tells me it is probably the latter.

In Specter’s letter, the Senator took the opportunity to criticize several of this administration’s questionable policies:

“We press this issue in the context of repeated stances by the Administration on expansion of Article II power, frequently at the expense of Congress’s Article I authority. There are the Presidential signing statements where the President seeks to cherry-pick which parts of the statute he will follow. There has been the refusal of the Department of Justice to provide the necessary clearances to permit its Office of Professional Responsibility to determine the propriety of the legal advice given by the Department of Justice on the electronic surveillance program. There is the recent Executive Branch search and seizure of Congressman Jefferson’s office. There are the recent and repeated assertions by the Department of Justice that it has the authority to criminally prosecute newspapers and reporters under highly questionable criminal statutes.”

Here’s a link to a PDF copy of the letter:

Sen. Specter's letter to V.P. Cheney
(if you can't view the file, right click on the link and choose "Save Target As")

Sure sounds like someone finally discovered they had a constitutional responsibility to provide oversight to the Executive Branch. But why is Senator Specter the lone voice of dissent on the Republican side of the aisle? Why are so many of our elected representatives unwilling or unable to put their responsibilities to their constituents, and their oath of office, before partisan loyalties? Is it force of habit? Is it apathy? Or is there more pressure being brought to bear on these legislators than the occasional phone call from Dead-eye Dick Cheney?

As we get closer to the fall elections, don’t be surprised if you see more Senators and Congressmen rediscovering their constitutional responsibilities. After all, politics in our country these days isn’t about actually doing the people’s work, it’s about getting re-elected. And what better way is there to ensure re-election than to pretend to do the people’s work?