Let's face it people: Either we got magically got "boy scouts and girl scouts" into Congress or the Ethics review process is merely a charade that was put on as a means to win favor for a voting population that was tired of public scandal but would fall for anything.
Where is the PRESS on this story? 25 investigations and no punishment doled out? Please!
I think I liked it better when the press had an axe to grind and thus was more active.
By Fredreka Schouten USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Nearly three years after Congress approved sweeping ethics rules to “drain the swamp,” as incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, no member of Congress has been punished for wrongdoing.
In that time, allegations of sexual misconduct and financial impropriety have been lodged against lawmakers. The most serious rebuke in the past year: a “letter of qualified admonition” to Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., after the Senate ethics panel concluded he misled lawmakers and inappropriately offered to raise campaign funds for then-governor Rod Blagojevich as Burris sought the Senate appointment. “Three years later, it’s the same old, same old,” said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in January 2007 and quickly approved ethics rules that barred lawmakers from taking gifts or meals from lobbyists and their clients. The action came largely in response to the scandal of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to providing gifts to public officials in exchange for favors.
Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said lawmakers are held to the “highest ethical standard” and pointed to the independent Office of Congressional Ethics as one example.
The office, authorized in March 2008, vets complaints and sends them to the House ethics committee for final action. It launched 25 investigations during the first nine months of 2009, the most recent data available. Nine were sent on to the ethics committee for further action.
The committee has acknowledged 10 pending cases, including an inquiry into Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and whether he failed to disclose rental income and improperly solicited donations for a public service center named in his honor. Spokesman Emile Milne said Rangel “looks forward to the conclusion of the review he himself requested.”
Although the ethics committee has not taken any disciplinary action, Fred Wertheimer of the watchdog group Democracy 21 praised the independent office.
Pedro Ribeiro, a spokesman for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House ethics panel, declined to comment because the panel’s work is confidential. Natalie Ravitz, spokeswoman for Senate Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said, “There are always going to be those who criticize our work” but the committee is doing its job.
3 comments:
Ethical standards from the mouth of the House.......
right, and I'm going to wake up tomorrow as a twenty one year old virgin.
OT - love your blog/s. Don't always agree with you but always a good read and well researched. Where do you find time for all of this. From reading your blog I know you have a family and a full time job. Where do you get the energy. Tried blogging myself, not enjoyable reading . Very envious of your skills.
Thanks anon.
I always have two computers in front of me, all day long it seems.
My "real job" is research, analysis and business process development.
Some people fail to see that managing a business is really "managing people" for a specific mission.
The problems that we face as a people lend themselves to 'human resource management' more than some people prefer to believe.
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