Word: reformed
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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East Germany's desperate gamble did not, however, save the Communist Party from the prospect of political oblivion. There seemed to be little doubt that its absolute and often brutal 40-year rule would come to an end. Despite his role in the reform initiatives and opening of the Wall, Krenz is so widely distrusted that he stands in danger of losing his top role. Restive members demanded that an emergency party conference scheduled for mid-December be elevated into a full-scale congress that will have the power to dump the entire Central Committee...
...rulers of the East bloc, opening the floodgates of reform even partway seems certain to result in more than just a cleansing catharsis. If they had expected only to buy time to save their slipping grasp on power, they may soon be proved wrong. Each change begets some other unpredictable change, and as leaders in Poland, Hungary and East Germany have already discovered, suddenly brings on a whole new order. The tide is simply too irresistible...
Foley and Michel began by appointing a bipartisan task force to craft an ethics package that would combine the salary increase with real reform. With the raise stalled as a hoped-for Thanksgiving adjournment approached, Foley and Michel closed ranks again. They limited partisan bickering and promised not to use the pay hike as a campaign issue next year. On Thursday they won a hasty 252-174 vote in favor of the increase. After the victory, task force chairman Vic Fazio of California declared, "We have decided to reinvest in this institution and take the responsibility for its future...
...some, that was not enough to justify a nearly 40% salary increase. "We come forward with ethics reform, and we instead sneak in a pay raise," said Democratic Congressman James Traficant of Ohio. "With the huge budget deficit we face, now is not the time." Nader spokesman Bob Dreyfuss pointed out that while Congress was looking after its own interests, it had delayed action on a federal child-care plan and failed to pass a budget -- leaving servicemen, Medicare recipients, farmers and other federal beneficiaries vulnerable to the automatic Gramm-Rudman-Hollings cutbacks. "If the issue were based on merit...
Matters were more complicated for the Senate, whose members earn the same $89,500 salary as Representatives but rake in more from speaking fees. They were able to bury the plan by speaking up for reform: first they added a provision to prohibit retired congressional and Executive Branch employees from lobbying their former colleagues for one year. Then they left the pay- for-ethics package in place for the House (along with the raises for judges and bureaucrats), but rejected it for themselves. At week's end, after three attempts by Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina to scuttle...