Black Caucus launches effort to repeal major ethics reform
Former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal was not at all happy with the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent ethics investigating office that in March released the results of an damning investigation into his business affairs. Deal, who is now running for the GOP nomination for governor, accused the OCE of conducting “a political witch hunt fueled by Democrats who fear that Roy Barnes will lose the governor’s race to Nathan Deal.” He also claimed the office had no legal right to release its report once he resigned from Congress.
Deal’s conspiracy theory ignored a couple of salient facts. First the OCE board is composed of equal numbers of Republican and Democratic appointees, yet it voted unanimously, 6-0, to release the Deal report. Second, the report itself made it clear that the OCE had built a strong case against Deal.
The New York Times is now reporting that 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are also expressing unhappiness with the OCE:
A resolution introduced late last week by Representative Marcia L. Fudge, Democrat of Ohio, and co-sponsored by 19 other black caucus members, would prohibit the release of most investigative reports prepared by the Office of Congressional Ethics. It would also prevent the office from initiating its own inquiries, unless a sworn complaint was filed by an individual with personal knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing.
Among the cosponsors of the resolution are U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson and U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, both Georgia Democrats.
As the story points out, the office has investigated eight members of the black caucus and referred the cases to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly known as the ethics committee. Only one caucus member, Charles Rangel of New York, has been formally admonished as a result, but reports released by the OCE have made it clear that other caucus members were at the very least cavalier about breaking House rules regarding lobbyist-funded entertainment.
It’s no surprise that members of Congress don’t like the OCE. Unlike the House ethics committee, the OCE truly is independent, and a key part of that independence is its authority to release reports of its investigation to the public. If that power is taken away and the ethics committee, made up of fellow congressmen, is given the authority to squelch those reports, an important check on congressional ethics will disappear.
The OCE was created two years ago as part of an ethics reform package championed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was opposed by House Minority Leader John Boehner, who complained at the time that “we don’t need a new layer of bureaucracy to stand between those who break the rules and those who must enforce them.” In the end, the bill survived a procedural test by only a single vote, and only after Pelosi held the vote open past the deadline while she twisted arms. The final package passed 229-182, with 196 Democrats and 33 Republicans in favor and 23 Democrats and 159 Republicans opposed.
Voting now to weaken the OCE would be a terrible confirmation of the public’s current disdain for Congress. It would also make it much more difficult for congressional Democrats to claim that Congress operates any differently now than it did under Republican rule, when the ethics investigation process broke down completely.
Speaker Pelosi should do everything in her power to ensure that doesn’t happen.
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347 comments Add your comment
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:45 pm
Whoah! Didn’t see this one coming, Bruin! Hat’s off…can’t wait for the comments to start…you do know how to throw the night shift a bone…thanks!
jewcowboy
June 2nd, 2010
2:46 pm
No one likes to be caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
laissez faire
June 2nd, 2010
2:47 pm
I guess that means the members of the congressional black caucus have to pay income tax and do without community organizing “walking around” money..the horror..the horror.
Doggone/GA
June 2nd, 2010
2:50 pm
Cue the “I’m not a bigot, but…” brigade
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:50 pm
Anybody know where I can get a good deal on a freezer?
laissez faire
June 2nd, 2010
2:50 pm
facts about Islamist flotilla scum ..
Jerusalem —- May 29, 2010 …. The “Gaza Freedom Flotilla”, a group of ships carrying up to 800 people and 10,000 tons of supplies destined for the Gaza Strip has the alledged aim of stirring international debate regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza. However, questions have been raised as to their motives especially given evidence of the organizer’s direct ties to international terrorist organizations including al Qaida and Hamas.
Israel security sources have told the Israel News Agency that the main organization behind the “freedom” flotilla that is now sailing towards the Gaza Strip is called The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a so-called “relief” organization from Turkey.
This is an organization unabashedly proud of its close ties to Hamas, a terror organization as recognized by the United States, Israel and the European Union (EU).
The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation is openly supportive of Hamas, an organization that is widely seen as the one of the largest perpetrators of human rights violations, having violently seized control of the Gaza Strip, and committed immeasurable human rights violations against its own people, not to mention hundreds of terror attacks initiated targeting the citizens of Israel.
As I said before, If they want martyrdom, send them to hell, but when they get there, if the prophet Mohammed is busy with a camel or small child(he was a pedophile child rapist), just be patient.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:52 pm
I’d say the Bruin’s the drum major for that brigade…and, no, Jay, I don’t think you’re a bigot…in fact I think you deserve a polite golf clap here…
Dave R.
June 2nd, 2010
2:52 pm
josef, your 2:50? That’s funny!
laissez faire
June 2nd, 2010
2:53 pm
News from the UK..Thank god they have total and absolute ban on handguns there..this could have been real bad but thanks to handgun ban, it didn’t really happen. It’s all an “illusion” after all, they banned handguns. where would this guy have got a handgun, they are banned.
Derrick Bird, a taxi driver, drove down the west coast in a three and a half-hour rampage blasting passers-by at random.
Some reports suggested he had beckoned victims over to his car before shooting them at point blank range, while other witnesses described seeing Bird driving down the road pointing his gun out of the window.
Normal
June 2nd, 2010
2:55 pm
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:50 pm
Anybody know where I can get a good deal on a freezer?
Alaska?
Dave R.
June 2nd, 2010
2:55 pm
But really, isn’t the OCE just another oxymoron? I mean, so they release a few reports. Big deal.
Haven’t seen much action in the well of the House to DO anything about those reports.
Censure? Removal from office? Anything?
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:56 pm
Normal–
Seward’s Appliances?
Normal
June 2nd, 2010
2:57 pm
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
2:56 pm
Good ‘un…
NowReally
June 2nd, 2010
2:58 pm
Shame on the CBC…..If anything the OCE should become stronger.
Doggone/GA
June 2nd, 2010
3:00 pm
“Censure? Removal from office? Anything?”
The OCE cannot do any of those. My understanding is they investigate, and present the evidence…if any…of wrong-doing. It’s up to each house to discipline their members appropriately, should they so choose.
laissez faire
June 2nd, 2010
3:01 pm
sometimes the headline is so unique, you don’t even need to read the story..it would just cheapen the moment..
cops: Porn Actor kills 1 in Rampage
joan
June 2nd, 2010
3:06 pm
Whatever happened to the guy caught with money in his freezer? Any significance to it being the black caucus??
Dave R.
June 2nd, 2010
3:06 pm
“The OCE cannot do any of those. My understanding is they investigate, and present the evidence…if any…of wrong-doing. It’s up to each house to discipline their members appropriately, should they so choose.”
Hence, Doggone, the complaint about nothing being done in the “well of the House” in that very same post.
Do you have to be so disagreeable on everything? Why bother even asking . . .
Doggone/GA
June 2nd, 2010
3:08 pm
“Do you have to be so disagreeable on everything?”
The real question is: why do YOU read “disagreeableness” into my posts? There was nothing “disagreeable” in that one…it was only for information for those not familiar with what the OCE can and can’t do.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
3:11 pm
joan
He’s currently cooling his heels in the ice box. He got 13 years. He was a member of the black caucus while in Congress. His seat was taken by Rep. Anh Joseph Cao (R) the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress…he voted for the Health Care bill…don’t know if there’s an Asian Caucus or not…anybody?
TaxPayer
June 2nd, 2010
3:12 pm
Will the GOP come out and stand with the Democrats? The suspense builds.
Dave R.
June 2nd, 2010
3:14 pm
Joan, William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison for being guilty of 11 counts. It should be noted that he was re-elected while under investigation, and was later defeated when trying to run for re-election while under indictment.
Yet nothing was done in the House of Representatives during this time,and the Congressional Black Caucus even tried to have Jefferson retained on his committee assignments!
D-Boe
June 2nd, 2010
3:14 pm
“Whatever happened to the guy caught with money in his freezer?”
He’s somewhere in making license plates.
Outhouse Gokart
June 2nd, 2010
3:16 pm
Well…Im not a racist but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
President Joe Biden
June 2nd, 2010
3:17 pm
Speaker Pelosi should do everything in her power to ensure that doesn’t happen.
having read the NYTimes story you linked, Jay, I’m inclined to agree, although I’m wiling to hear out the CBCers who have a beef with it–and I think perhaps both you and the NYT might be giving them a bit of short shrift here.
Question for the Bookmaniacs, and please answer honestly–how many of you actually read the story he linked? Or if you’d rather answer this way–how many of you typically do read the linked story, or at least open it up and have a peak/skim? I was always kinda curious…
President Joe Biden
June 2nd, 2010
3:18 pm
Joan, William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison
must we coddle those with broken Googles? Can’t such people learn to fix their own Google? what happened to Personal ‘Sponsibility?
President Joe Biden
June 2nd, 2010
3:19 pm
You know what I hate more than making boneheaded comments about charismatic black politicians being “clean” and “articulate”?
Forgetting to re-set my Name field after a one-off joke post. Jeez.
Southern Comfort
June 2nd, 2010
3:19 pm
Let them express unhappiness until the cows come home. It’s still a horse and pony show because any actions from their investigations still have to be agreed upon by their colleagues. Maybe the OCE needs to be run by angry constituents then. I’d love to see their reactions then.
TaxPayer
June 2nd, 2010
3:23 pm
Forgetting to re-set my Name field after a one-off joke post. Jeez
I know the feeling.
Jay
June 2nd, 2010
3:24 pm
Biden, I’d previously read the OCE reports on caucus members and their corporate-funded excursion to St. Maartens. The claim that they didn’t know it was corporate funded was laughable, but the ethics committee bought it anyway.
They thumbed their nose at the rules and got caught.
Curious Observer
June 2nd, 2010
3:25 pm
And on another front,
Joran van der Sloot, once considered a suspect in the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway, is the suspect in the killing of a woman in Peru, police said. CNN.com
Seems he had the bad judgment to rent the hotel room where her battered body was bound and then be seen on hotel videotape entering the room with the victim at 5 a.m. Although he reportedly has escaped overland to Chile, Peruvian authorities are seeking an international arrest warrant. In the end, Mr. William Jefferson won’t be the only one occupying a prison cell.
laissez faire
June 2nd, 2010
3:28 pm
well that didn;t look right once the original post i was replying to is removed..so nevermind
Gale
June 2nd, 2010
3:31 pm
The ethics committee may not be able to do anything but report, and the respective house may do nothing to censure, BUT the voters CAN do something to respond to wrong doing. The sad thing to me is there seems to be not better candidate: Deal or Barnes. Neither is good.
Stiv Bators
June 2nd, 2010
3:32 pm
Graft is truly bipartisan.
My apologies here Jay Bookman, but I cannot get an answer from the AJC…why does Neal Boortz get to post a column without having a comment section? Does he really need yet another venue where he can lie and distort the facts without having someone call him out for it?
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:33 pm
A friend of mine, who’s working for Deal’s campaign, invited me to a meet and greet. Told him “No thanks.” So far there’s not a one running for Governor, that’s deserving of my vote, but I WILL have to vote for someone, against my better judgment.
Don’t know who these “political” appointees are, but it takes one to know one, so I’m not altogether convinced they’re on the up and up. I’d rather have an independent government watchdog group appoint a group of citizens to keep an eye on the Washington elite.
_______________________________________________
SoCo:
About Soothsayer’s “impressive” link downstairs. You’re far too intelligent to get caught up in the writings of one, Paul Craig Roberts. The guy is a conspiracy theorist on the same realm as Alex Cockburn and James St. Clair.
Weirdos, all! He’s also an anti-semite with his Zionist this and Zionist that…all of America’s ills can be blamed on the evil Ziofascists.
Another article written by Roberts, “Gullible Americans” in which he said:
It is certainly a known and non-controversial fact among physicists and engineers that the only way buildings can collapse at free fall speed into their own footprints is by engineered demolition. Explosives are used to remove the support of floors below before the debris from above arrives. Otherwise, resistance is encountered and the time required for fall increases. Engineered demolition also explains the symmetrical collapse of the buildings into their own foot prints. As it is otherwise improbable for every point in floors below to weaken uniformly, “pancaking” would result in asymmetrical collapse as some elements of the floor would give sooner than others.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14531.htm
He’s a frikkin’ 9/11 Truther.
Sheesh! My advice?
Mark him off your reading list.
stands for decibels
June 2nd, 2010
3:34 pm
For anyone inclined to take laissez’ off-topic whinge @ 2.53 seriously–here’s a comparison between murder rates in the US and UK.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita%E2%80%9D
Cutting to the chase: ours is 3x worse than theirs.
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:34 pm
Zionist?
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:35 pm
frikkin’?
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:35 pm
Gullible?
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:35 pm
Weirdos?
Jay:
I’ve got a post held up in moderation.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
3:39 pm
SFD
Laissez gets on my nerves, too, but chiding him for being off topic? Mirror, mirror. You and I are certainly not immune…still and all, though, getting off topic this soon into the thread…boy’s got issues is all I can say…and that thing about Barney…
josef nix
June 2nd, 2010
3:42 pm
@@
It’s probably a combination of letters…I do wish that the AJC would do an analysis and give us a list…it would make things easier…
stands for decibels
June 2nd, 2010
3:43 pm
why does Neal Boortz get to post a column without having a comment section?
At the risk of sounding like a fan of Neal’s—probably because he isn’t paid to baby sit the throngs of people who’d surely require moderation at such a forum.
(By the way, Stiv, you’re surprisingly articulate for a guy who’s deceased. Must be that sonic reducer.
Cooter-- The illegal hunter
June 2nd, 2010
3:44 pm
Whatever happened to the guy caught with money in his freezer? He went to jail I think
Any significance to it being the black caucus?? Yea considering that demographic per centage wise commits most of the crime around the nation.
Dagny Taggart
June 2nd, 2010
3:45 pm
Answer to above question on Boortz..my guess is that Boortz is an actual ASSET to the paper..he is the cox corps heavy hitter and ratings magnet..the rest of the AJC hasn;t exactly been gangbusters on attracting customers, you might call them (since Wooten’s retirement) LIABILITIES(when you are so far out of whack to the left with the thinking of the vast majority of your geographically potential audience)…so as an ASSET he gets to set his own work rules.
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:46 pm
Just in case, jay doesn’t release.
SoCo:
About Soothsayer’s “impressive” link downstairs….Paul Craig Roberts, the author of the article, is a 9/11 Truther and an anti-semite. He believes that the government is under the control of Ziofascists.
He wrote an article, entitled “Gullible Americans” at “The Information Clearinghouse”.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14531.htm
On topic.
Ethics committee? Forget the political appointees! Give me a group of citizens appointed by an independent government watchdog group. That’s the only group I’d trust to keep an eye on our Washington crowd.
@@
June 2nd, 2010
3:50 pm
Okey Dokey! That one jumped out at me.
Oh! and SoCo?
You’re far too intelligent to fall victim to conspiracy theorists like Roberts, Alex Jones, Alexander C-o-c-kburn and James St. Clair.
They’re all nuts!
stands for decibels
June 2nd, 2010
3:52 pm
chiding him for being off topic? Mirror, mirror. You and I are certainly not immune…
J-Nix, for what it’s worth–I’ve always tried to make my first post on-topic, even when I’m #300 or so, after the topic’s been fermenting for several hours.
More recently (you may have missed this) I had a bit of a hissy fit over some the off-topic posts. Which may or may not have prompted Jay to re-state that he’d like people to restrict themselves to two off-topic posts per thread; presumably that means you can only introduce two new subjects per thread, it doesn’t mean you can’t reply to someone else’s post.
All of which led Scout (of all people) to begin the practice of announcing his “Off Topic Post #1” and “Off topic Post #2. Which is something I actually like seeing in here.
So kudos to Scout.
And yeah, I differentiate between actually introducing a brand new topic into the mix, and simply replying to someone else’s off-topic post. Maybe I shouldn’t?
Cooter-- The illegal hunter
June 2nd, 2010
3:53 pm
A friend of mine, who’s working for Deal’s campaign, invited me to a meet and greet. Told him “No thanks.” So far there’s not a one running for Governor, that’s deserving of my vote, but I WILL have to vote for someone, against my better judgment.
how come we cant get a good tea-party candidate down here to root for?
We need a young Lester Maddox type to show up and rally the masses.
stands for decibels
June 2nd, 2010
3:56 pm
Alexander C-o-c-kburn
For the record, one of my favorite bands of the punk era? The Buzzc0cks.
later, kids.