Congress has been so low in the polls it doesn’t know which way is up. But scandals in recent years by individual lawmakers (mainly GOP) have forced a new Congress (mainly Democratic) to try to climb out of its pit of pitiful perfidy and reform its backroom M.O. That is, up to a point. The Senate takes up a House-passed bill Thursday that will go far to curb the influence of big money and special-interest lobbies in shaping new laws and spending priorities. Political resistance to these landmark reforms still remains strong in the Senate because of a false sense of privilege and immunity. But rising public disgust – rather than apathy – at such arrogance should help pass this major change in how the people’s business is conducted on Capitol Hill. It also helps that a number of legislators are still under official investigation, with Alaska’s Sen. Ted Stevens (R) being the latest. (His home was raided by the FBI on Monday.) Among other things, the House bill opens a new window on the practice of lobbyists who ‘bundle’ small donations into large cash for lawmakers’ campaign coffers. That loophole in the campaign-finance laws should be […]