Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Seares: Legislative inquiry By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
FACT or myth?
One: Legislators sign anything, even toilet paper a drunk colleague might pass around in some cocktail lounge.
Two: Legislators call for legislative inquiry at the drop of a scandal that promises some media frenzy.
The first is grossly exaggerated. They do check what’s readable from restroom tissue.
The second is a tad inaccurate. They investigate a scandal that’s half as promising on publicity.
Senate or House inquiries are seen by many people as big chance for senators or congressmen to preen before cameras and listen to their own voices.
Little has been produced by Senate or House inquiries “in aid of legislation.” There’s no showing of laws approved after the public hearings and the good they do.
But windfall in publicity may profit some senatorial or presidential wannabes struggling to compete with movie or TV stars and basketball players on name recognition by voters.
Oversight function
This time, the House will look into the sinking of mv Princess of the Stars that killed more victims than any drive-by shooter could ever do in one murderous ride.
The new hearings make people ask: By the way, what happened to the Senate probe on the ZTE national broadband network deal? Has it produced better laws? Has it caught elusive truth?
Questions don’t include “Have they charged anyone in court?” They know that’s too much to expect from a system in which all the noise about fighting corruption hardly sends a corrupt public official to jail.
Legislative inquiry is some form of oversight. But few executive and justice officials can take its results with a straight face.
