After Criticism, House GOP Drops Effort To Weaken Ethics Committee

By Marvin Anderson
RoundTable Editor

Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to dissolve an independent and non-partisan group created to pursue political corruption and, after a massive backlash of criticism, stepped back from the decision.

The House Republicans had met Monday in a closed-door session without notice or debate and accepted a proposal to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, created in 2008 as a watchdog of political scandal.

The decision, made a day before the newly-elected Congress convened, was announced Monday by Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and was criticized by the public and politicians, including President-elect Donald J. Trump.

“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” he wrote on Twitter. “Focus on tax reform, health and so many other things of far greater importance!”

In the upcoming Congressional session, legislators will take up key national issues including reviewing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The move to dismantle and weaken the OCE to some seemed as an effort to open the floodgates to lobbyists looking to influence high priority legislation.

“Don’t insult our intelligence,” Dan Kim said to Rep. Goodlatte in response to his Twitter post. “And how much did you or your campaign pocket for gutting OCE, Congressman? Shame on you.”

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was created by Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) in 2008 as a balance-and-check system for House members that she said would “drain the swamp” of corruption. The organization has led to investigations and subsequent federal jail time for bribery for Reps. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), William Jefferson (D-La.), and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio).

But the OCE, which has a staff of 8, has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans for being aggressive in its investigations. The goal of the changes, called the Goodlatte ammendment, was in response to those complaints, Goodlatte said.

“Feedback from Members and staff having gone through review by the OCE has been that those under investigation need increased protection of their due process rights, greater access to basic evidentiary standards, and a process that does not discriminate against them for invoking those rights,” Goodlatte said in a press release. “The amendment seeks to strengthen each of these needs while maintaining the basic core of OCE’s functions.”

The amendment would have replaced the OCE with an “Office of Congressional Complaint Review” that would report to theHouse Ethics Committee, which has been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.“ The amendment would also stop investigations from being made public and forbids them from notifying law enforcement if they find a crime has been committed.

Additional changes included prohibiting individuals from making anonymous complaints.