The proposal released today by the Special Task Force on Ethics
Enforcement represents a meaningful step toward fixing the broken and
discredited House ethics process.
Today’s
proposal would fundamentally change the way in which ethics complaints
are initiated and handled. A new independent Office of Congressional
Ethics would end the partisan gridlock that has stymied legitimate
ethics investigations. Disclosure of the activities of the ethics
office will end the secrecy that has been a hallmark of the
Congressional ethics committee and increase accountability for those
who break the rules.
Earlier this year, Congress adopted strong
new rules to rein in clubby practices that had allowed powerful
lobbyists to gain special access for well-heeled clients. But the
promise of the new rules to exact significant change here in Washington
is only as good as the ability to enforce them. Violators have little
to fear under the current system which closely resembles a firing squad
standing in a circle. The result has been years of bipartisan détente
and little accountability.
Specifically the proposal would:
•
Establish an independent Office of Congressional Ethics run by a six
member board with the power to file complaints and initiate its own
investigations into allegations of wrongdoing.
• Protect board
members against arbitrary and partisan efforts to remove them if they
take up allegations against members that are either politically
embarrassing to one side or the other or involve powerful individuals.
• Establish timetables and deadlines for acting on ethics complaints and making public any findings of investigations.
• Assure that the Office is able completes investigations.
• Make virtually all of the work of the new Office available to the public.
The
proposal could be strengthened by giving board members access to
subpoena power to compel witnesses to come before the board.
This
proposal is an important step toward cleaning up the mess in
Washington. U.S. PIRG urges all members of the House to support the
proposal without weakening amendments.
