Nancy Pelosi’s high ethical standards
I didn’t see this coming: The House ethics panel has recommended a tough punishment for Charlie Rangel, the 80-year-old former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Despite his tearful plea for mercy, the panel recommended censure, which is the second toughest punishment at their disposal.
There are a couple of obvious ironies here. The first is this: Rangel might have avoided this embarrassing public spectacle and received a lesser punishment if he had taken the plea deal the ethics committee offered him over the summer. But he rejected it. As a former prosecutor, Rangel should have understood the risk of rejecting the plea.
The second irony is this: It was the iron will of outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who pledged to “drain the swamp” and elevate ethics in the House, that led to Rangel’s predicament. Over the strenuous objections of incoming House Speaker John Boehner, Pelosi insisted on establishing an independent Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate misconduct by members of the House.
Boehner plans to eliminate the OCE. From The National Journal:
Boehner and most of the other House Republicans voted against the OCE’s creation two years ago. Anticipating its closure, the office’s staff director and chief counsel, Leo Wise, has announced that he is leaving for a job with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
Under Wise, the OCE has looked into 69 complaints and recommended action on 13 of them. It has operated as an inspector general of sorts and has won praise for reviving the House’s notoriously moribund and secretive ethics process. Among others cases, the office brought to light allegations of wrongdoing by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is now on trial in the House on charges related to fundraising, financial-disclosure, and tax irregularities.
Asked about the OCE, Buck said that Boehner will “take a look at current ethics rules” but that ethics “has really not been the focus of our transition efforts.” GOP leaders probably won’t vote publicly to kill the OCE but will simply quietly defund it next year, said John Wonderlich, policy director of the Sunlight Foundation. The foundation has been working with GOP transition leaders on their transparency agenda and has lobbied for the OCE’s preservation.
Some tea partiers want the OCE to remain open, and an Ohio group has warned Boehner not to shut it down: (h/t ThinkProgress
The Ohio Liberty Council, the main umbrella organization for 58 Tea Party groups in the state, supports efforts to strengthen the OCE and is warning House GOP leaders that any attempt to weaken it will upset Tea Party activists.
“I[f] they move in the opposite direction of transparency that this office provides, I think we will be very upset about that,” said Chris Littleton, president of the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cincinnati Tea Party. “Symbolically, it’s a huge problem for them … they should be as transparent as they can be. Any opposition to that would be inappropriate on their part.”
The tea partiers will lose the fight. Boehner will quietly shut down the office, and House members can resume business as usual.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
206 comments Add your comment
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
1:29 pm
When you learn to use constructive creative new terms, maybe someone will pay attention to what you say.
You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that I actually care what you think.
Enough Kammy
November 19th, 2010
1:34 pm
Kammy,
And another one
Term limits.
We already have term limits, they’re called elections.
Yes, we have elections but I’m not sure you know it, but we in Georgia can’t vote for Pelosi, so terms limits are the only way to get the bad eggs out, and beleive me there are a bunch of them, on both sides of the asile
Enough Kammy
November 19th, 2010
1:37 pm
Kammy,
There you go with your “holier than thou” comments. Keep it up, you are embrassing yourself
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
1:45 pm
…so terms limits are the only way to get the bad eggs out, and beleive me there are a bunch of them, on both sides of the asile[sic].
Congress critters are re-elected at a rate of 80-90%, so when I here someone talking about “term limits,” it’s always about someone else’s congress critter, just as your post illustrates.
If you want Pelosi out of Congress so badly, then move to her district and vote her out.
AmVet
November 19th, 2010
1:45 pm
Hey Kam, I think I found the perfect Xmas gift for your deranged leg humper.
From the adult dog store – an inflatable leg!
He’ll get years and years of good humping out of it…
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
1:46 pm
“hear”
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
1:51 pm
Thanks AmVet. That has to be the best gift giving advice that I have ever received.
ButtHead
November 19th, 2010
2:09 pm
Pelosi’s ethics are so high she needs to stand up to touch a snake’s belly…
Billybob
November 19th, 2010
2:09 pm
Keep smoking the ‘legal’ weed you wish for tucker, it must be some good stuff….
Fed-Up
November 19th, 2010
2:12 pm
GM…please educate yourself before you cime in……
Ford refused all money offered by Obama. They have been making record profits due to their own hard work and free market thinking. Second….Obama DID NOT save GM. He saved the union and preserved union pensions. GM now owes the US taxpayers $10 billion (which we will never see a penny of) after the government dumps all of it’s shares. We also let the Chinese take a large ownership stake of one of the oldest and largest American corporations. Had GM been allowed to file for bankruptcy and re-structure on their own…they would’ve been back on their feet a long time ago without our grandkids having to pick up the tab.
Get Real
November 19th, 2010
2:30 pm
Pelosi and ethical should never be used in the same sentence!
Alatsea
November 19th, 2010
2:36 pm
Is it true that Keep blew up
Abolish HHS
November 19th, 2010
2:36 pm
Nancy is about as ethical as the Godfather! She has seized control of an air force 727 as her private jet to fly her ugly butt back and forth to Ca, along with all her friends and family, who do not pay one red cent for the flights.
Pablo
November 19th, 2010
2:37 pm
Good Grief:
Thanks. And yes, you are very correct in saying that Washington has been doing this to us for the longest time (under both parties). The good thing is that the American electorate seems to have awakened, and it is more willing to be more critical of their elected officials than ever before. If we can keep this trend going, eventually we will have real public servants in Congress. I just pray that that happens before it’s too late.
simplythetruth
November 19th, 2010
2:39 pm
High ethical standards? Would that be the kind of California “high” such as pertains to medicinal marijuana? I can’t believe that anyone would buy into Nancy Pelosi being regarded as ethically strong. Draining the swamp, transparency, and watching The People’s Money is something that she has been an abysmal failure at achieving. Closed doors, complete refusal to acknowlege the will of the American people, and wasteful expenditures( increased spending on her private air service) are just a drop in the bucket of so called ‘accomplishments”. She’s right where she should be, Minority Leader” because she made her party the minority.
Gm
November 19th, 2010
2:43 pm
Fed-UP: This is so typically of you President Obama haters never will give this man his due: Please tell that to the millions of people who jobs were save.
I did not hear you say anything about the money Auto have paid back to the tax payers. If he had not given the bail out suppliers for ford would have been out of business and every body would have lost.
This is why I said: President Obama should have not done anything and let all you conservatives and your families go thru what people did in 1929.
He should not run in 2012, this country is not worthy of such a great President you rather have someone that lies to you and get thousands of more of our Americans troops kill.
Tracy
November 19th, 2010
2:43 pm
Pelosi knew about the CIA waterboarding torture for years, then when the news went public she was in the front of the pack pointing fingers of anger and disgust towards W and Cheney. She highlighted this all by accusing the CIA of lying about telling her, but she quickly dropped the subject once the CIA fought back calling her the liar.
Pelosi knows ethics.
Outside looking in
November 19th, 2010
2:43 pm
The witch has no ethical standards. She is the ultimate political hack and should go the way of the dinosaurs. Her ego of having to be in charge is the best thing that could have happened to the repubs. Two more years of this bitch makes the dems look truly dim. She had a 6% approval rating. You left wing losers are really in the dark. If a repub would have done the same thing you left wing idiots would be jumping up and down about it. Two more years and the dems will be decimated. Can’t wait.
Outside looking in
November 19th, 2010
2:48 pm
Gm
You still build crappy cars. Goverment involment of private business is socialism. There is NO gray area about this.
Gm
November 19th, 2010
2:57 pm
Outside looking in: So I gues he should have let millions more Americans be in the street? You are sounding like that high school drop out Rush Limbaugh:
Please go visit a Socialist country before you idiots throw that word around.
Outside looking in
November 19th, 2010
2:59 pm
Gm
The point is, they still build crappy cars. Are you a union member?
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
3:05 pm
So I gues he should have let millions more Americans be in the street?
Unfortunately, yes.
I see no other way to get rid of this neoclassical
theoryalchemy that is constantly referred to as “Econ 101.”Outside looking in
November 19th, 2010
3:06 pm
Gm
Please go visit a Socialist country before you idiots throw that word around
I don’t know how you people on the left have this ability to read one persons statement and then deduce that I am a drop out and have never been to a socialist country. And I’m perfectly aware of the catastrophic impact that letting these poorly run industrial giants close down. But I still have a problem with using tax-payer money to bail them out. Let them fail and then start over.
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the LIAR Obama - BEND OVER, Here comes the CHANGE!
November 19th, 2010
3:09 pm
Is it April 1st? Because that would be the ONLY reason for this blog.
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the LIAR Obama - BEND OVER, Here comes the CHANGE!
November 19th, 2010
3:13 pm
GM are you for real? The money GM paid back was from their Tarp loan.
That is NOT paying the taxpayers back. How STUPID are you?
Tommy
November 19th, 2010
3:23 pm
Cynthia,
I don’t understand why you didn’t hop on AF-1 or Hopptie-1 with your main man last week and tour Asia free of charge. Was it that all of your southern charm didn’t get you a ticket to the circus or did you fail the TSA screening? I am assuming the later because when you passed through that new fangled machine it went crazy! It had never seen such a liberal mind before coming out of this red state. Week after week, article after article someone allows you to write these cartoons. Just to entertain the fine folks of the great state of Georgia. Keep it up! You are doing a fine job. Most of the time you work doesn’t make any sense but it does take up space on the internet and print area.
Good Grief
November 19th, 2010
3:27 pm
Outside looking in – Gm is pretty good about trying to belittle those he/she disagrees with. I think that’s Play #1 out of the liberal playbook.
williebkind
November 19th, 2010
3:30 pm
No wonder Georgia went almost completely red! The liiberals still think Pelosi is ethical. Voted her for minority leader in the House. Now that is the minority wanting to rule the majority. When are the democrats going to take back their party?
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
3:30 pm
I think that’s Play #1 out of the liberal playbook.
Talk-radio has been doing that for thirty some odd years, sport.
Funny, it’s only now that it gets your thong all atwist.
eddy
November 19th, 2010
3:31 pm
CT has very a very low ethical standards bar if she measures Pelosi against it and she came out as “very high”. Wonder where ol’ Chollie and Maxine fit underneath CT’s ethics bar?
williebkind
November 19th, 2010
3:33 pm
“Talk-radio has been doing that for thirty some odd years, sport.”
Well the liberals had all the free tv broadcasts far longer, so whats your point.
Kamchak
November 19th, 2010
3:35 pm
Well the liberals had all the free tv broadcasts far longer…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
willie-poo made a funny.
williebkind
November 19th, 2010
3:42 pm
Hey the senate Senate expected to pass black farmers settlement of 1.1 billion dollar payment for black farmers due to the The 1997 Pigford v. Glickman case. Now watch that list grow. We will have more black farmers on the list than acres to farm.
Gm
November 19th, 2010
3:43 pm
Outside looking in: The problem with you conseratives most are hypocrites: most of you hate goverment, only if is is not doing nothing for you: You people are like that air head Sara Palin, she goes around talking bad about goverment but 75% of the people in Alaska have government jobs. If the President had of done nothing millions more jobs would have been lost, I know you Anti Americans care less about the families that would have been on the street, untill its your family. I agree President Obama should not have done nothing, he shoulld have put you people back to the great depression, like George Bush left this country,just maybe then, most of you ungrateful Anti Americans would have given him credit.
williebkind
November 19th, 2010
3:43 pm
We just can help but to give money away! Instead of punishing violators of the law we give the victims money. When will it end!!
williebkind
November 19th, 2010
3:44 pm
Gm
November 19th, 2010
3:43 pm
Go file for that farm you lost. This give away should hold you for a year.
Michael
November 19th, 2010
3:53 pm
I think the best way to “drain the swamp” is to have term limits so they don’t have so much time to use their office to get rich. And they all do that, why else would so much money be spent to obtain an office that pays less than $200,000 a year.
Rafe Hollister
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
It took Nancy two years to schedule his trial and the evidence was so overwhelming he was convicted in minutes on almost every count. She protected him and Maxine (you must be a racist) Waters.
Charlie should have been expelled and his evidence refered to the (We don’t care about Black crimes) Justice Dept, where it could have been dismissed. Maxine Waters should also be expelled for interfering with the banking regulations and her case referred to the Justice Dept.
Enough Kammy
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
Kamchuk
If you want Pelosi out of Congress so badly, then move to her district and vote her out
Why on earth would I want to move there, you fit in better with them so much, why not you move there and take your lover AMvet with you..
ctucker
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
Rafe@4:02, What do you think Boehner would have done had it been a Republican? Say, Nathan Deal? There would NEVER have been an investigation
casual observer
November 19th, 2010
4:11 pm
Pelosi! PALEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ! What a back door, over the fence, through the gate, over the gate, dirty dealing piece of you know what. She and her governing against the will of the majority of Americans got almost 100 Dems fired! Ask Ms Lincoln from ARK. Ask Feingold. They are sitting their butts at home because of Pelosi. Some are even good people dispite being anti-American LIBS. Drain the Swamp? She should give herself a Swirly in the toilet and wise up. Even Jim “Gerrymander” Clyburn got Pelosied. Man are the Libs dumb.
Gm
November 19th, 2010
4:19 pm
williebkind: Well if your previous generations of kin folks had not been a bunch of murders, liers, robbers, where shall I stop, then there would be no need to pay this money””
David
November 19th, 2010
4:27 pm
Cynthia, Do you really believe what you write? Just what Pelosi spends on herself is probably half the budget. I assume you pay taxes but maybe we can get you to pay a little more so she can keep her jet.
ctucker
November 19th, 2010
4:38 pm
casual observer@4:11, What do you mean by “governing against the will of the people”? They were elected. Pelosi was just overwhelmingly re-elected from her district.
Good Grief
November 19th, 2010
4:48 pm
Kamchak wrote – “Talk-radio has been doing that for thirty some odd years, sport. Funny, it’s only now that it gets your thong all atwist.”
For the record, I know that. My ‘thong’ isn’t all atwist. I don’t even own a thong, but thanks for being so concerned about my undergarment situation.
As for Gm’s post at 3:43 – You’re argument is flawed in oh-so-many ways. Let’s break it down:
“The problem with you conseratives most are hypocrites: most of you hate goverment, only if is is not doing nothing for you: You people are like that air head Sara Palin, she goes around talking bad about goverment but 75% of the people in Alaska have government jobs.”
*Not to debate the figures with you, but her name is Sarah, not Sara, I’ve never heard her talk bad about government, but I have heard her talk about the bad-side of government (over-reaching imperialism, that sort of thing).*
“If the President had of done nothing millions more jobs would have been lost,”
*Conjecture, this statement means nothing. It’s hard to argue a bunch of “what ifs”*
“I know you Anti Americans care less about the families that would have been on the street, untill its your family.”
*That’s “couldn’t care less” and “until” (fixed your typos, props to Kamchak), and I like how you call everyone who disagrees with your position “anti-American.” Nice job.*
“I agree President Obama should not have done nothing, he shoulld have put you people back to the great depression, like George Bush left this country,just maybe then, most of you ungrateful Anti Americans would have given him credit.”
*This statement actually makes my head hurt. No single person is responsible for the state of the economy, and I apologize if a centrist country doesn’t buy in completely on a government take over of the economy. I’ll give Obama credit when credit is due, but right now most of the plans coming out of Washington (on both sides of the aisle) involve class and race warfare, wealth envy, and wealth distribution.*
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
5:32 pm
Go Dems – how long have you been a racist moral relativist with an profound absence of ethics? Rangel abused his position, the redneck scum in his district just refuse to see it – they are yellow dog democrats.
Libby
November 19th, 2010
5:35 pm
Just this headline gave me a good laugh!
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
5:35 pm
Tracy is proviing some truth, for those fools who think Pelosi is ethical. Ethical is NOT taking a $100,000 + salary and failing to balance the government you runs’ budget. That is pandering to keep yourself elected, the things that Pelosi has done. She has been elected from the Sodom & Gomorrah district of America, it is not surprising she pushes what she does.
Madison
November 19th, 2010
6:15 pm
CT, Great tongue in cheek piece. It’s a real hoot about how many thought you were serious. If you keep this kind of humor up you may end up working for Dave Letterman.
killerj
November 19th, 2010
6:42 pm
The list is getting shorter!…………10 to 1 it,s a Dem!