Lawmakers behaving badly

There has been heckling and the occasional head-butt, hurled water bottles and indecorous insults, bloody noses and at least one concussion.

Lawmaking in Russia's State Duma is not a pretty sight. Nor is the attempt to make it more of one.

Once, during debate of an ethics matter, one lawmaker called a colleague "the No. 1 political prostitute" and railed against the ethics committee for "political whoredom" - after which a fistfight broke out.

Eight times, an ethics code has been submitted to the 450-member Duma to supplement its basic regulations for polite conduct. Eight times, it has languished. Lawmakers will consider a ninth version, now under review by the Duma's legal department, as early as next month.

To the existing rules of behavior - no "rude" or "abusive" language, no insulting the "honor" or "dignity" of others, no "groundless accusations" - the draft code adds the offense of poor attendance at house sessions. And it proposes an unprecedented punishment: a cut in pay.

"Isn't it fair?" asked Gennady Raikov, chairman of the Duma's Credentials and Ethics Commission and a member of the ruling United Russia party.

Some say not. And not just because the dock in pay could violate Russia's labor laws.

"It doesn't have any ethical goals, but political goals," charged Andrei Savelyev of the Rodina party, who, under the proposed code, could risk losing a chunk of salary for making such an accusation.

"I think the parliament's behavior in this question is shameful," said Savelyev, who was attacked and given a bloody nose in the most recent Duma fray. "I'm against it because any stricter rules that are adopted will be used against the opposition, there's no doubt about it."

The primary punishment for behavior deemed unseemly, if not unethical - usually by the full Duma, which is located in Moscow and dominated by pro-Kremlin United Russia - is loss of the right to speak on the floor for any amount of time, from an afternoon to as long as a month. But members of the political opposition are the only ones who get punished.

"As practice shows, deputies of United Russia usually play the role of the insulted and representatives of the opposition faction are the offenders," the newspaper Noviye Izvestiya wrote last month.

In December, two Communists were barred from speaking after one referred to United Russia deputies as "comrade wolf," "comrade bear" and "other jackals." The other brandished a list of government officials accused or convicted of crimes, saying the vast majority of corrupt bureaucrats were members of United Russia.

"Gennady Ivanovich called my criticism slander," Valery Rashkin, the Communist who introduced the list, said in an interview, referring to the ethics committee chairman in the most formal, and polite, way.

Raikov said no United Russia deputies had been stripped of their right to speak for a simple reason: They don't commit ethical breaches.

The proposed code's rules of etiquette apply not only during legislative sessions but business trips - at home and abroad - and interactions with voters and even journalists. The code spells out a rolling scale for withholding a deputy's salary, which reportedly is about $3,400 a month. If he misses 30 percent of the Duma's sessions, he will lose a quarter of his salary. If he misses half, he'll lose half. If he misses more than 70 percent, he will lose it altogether.

Sometimes, deputies try to disguise their absences during floor votes by having a fellow lawmaker vote for them.

"Deputies pass their voting cards to each other," Raikov told Noviye Izvestiya. "On the screen, there are 357 in attendance, but in the hall there are 157. Should we count them by their heads? A deputy can later say he simply stepped out."

Attendance problems aside, the adolescent post-Soviet parliament has gotten somewhat more civil with age. Only one fight has erupted in the current four-year session, compared to 10 in the first Duma, eight in the second and three in the third, by Raikov's count. (next page »)