Liberal, conservative groups charge House ethics system virtually meaningl

[jbfam4]

Liberal, conservative groups charge House ethics system virtually meaningless

LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/03/02/national1126EST0585.DTL
Tuesday, March 2, 2004


(03-02) 08:26 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The House ethics system is virtually shut down because public interest groups are barred from filing complaints and leaders of both parties have a pact to avoid seeking investigations, liberal and conservative groups charged Tuesday.

Eight organizations -- from liberal Common Cause to conservative Judicial Watch -- said the ethics committee has taken action on only five cases since 1997, when the panel ended an investigation of former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was forced to pay a $300,000 fine after the probe on charges he used charitable funds for political purposes.

At a news conference, the organizations demanded that the committee -- formally the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- investigate a reported attempt by Republican leaders to offer Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., $100,000 for his son's congressional campaign if he voted for the Medicare overhaul legislation last year; and Majority Leader Tom DeLay's purported offer of attendance at gala events at the Republican National Convention this summer for donors to his childrens' charity.

The groups recommended that the House end a rule, established after the Gingrich case, that barred non-governmental organizations from filing complaints and that the leadership end its agreement, which several organizations called a "sweetheart" arrangement, to avoid filing complaints.

also seen on C span;
Forum
Congressional Ethics Oversight Procedures
Campaign Legal Center

Participants talked to reporters about enforcing congressional ethics rules and the process of ethics oversight. They talked about the need to restore rules allowing independent complaints to the ethics committee, current calls for and investigation into Representative DeLay’s plans to his charity to fund activities at the Republican National Convention, and recent charges of attempted bribery and corruption in the House. Following their remarks they answered questions from reporters. see below to watch it....


http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=175435046

[sadiesworld]

1. "leaders of both parties have a pact to avoid seeking investigations"

BS.

[jbfam4]

2. Congressmen committing federal crimes and getting away with it.

Statement of Melanie Sloan
Executive Director
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
March 2, 2004
http://www.citizensforethics.org/activities/20040302/

Never in the history of our country has corruption in the nation's capitol been so rampant and so unchecked, yet the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee sits back and does nothing, a veritable paper tiger.


Members of the House of Representatives are committing federal crimes and getting away with it. Bribery, extortion and money laundering are commonplace in the Ethics Free Zone that the House has become.

What happened to Nick Smith wasn't politics, it was a crime; two crimes actually: attempted bribery and extortion, crimes we expect to see mobsters to commit, not Members of Congress. Some have tried to play down this incident, calling it "politics as usual." But if attempted bribery and extortion are truly "politics as usual" then our democracy is broken and it is imperative that we fix it now.

The Smith affair is not an isolated incident. Congress has become Tammany Hall with Majority Tom DeLay as Boss Tweed. On a daily basis, and with total impunity, Mr. DeLay proudly extorts money from lobbyists and sells legislation to the highest bidder. You don't have to take my word for it, just look at the e-mail between Westar Energy Company executives stating that Westar had to pay DeLay $25,000 to ensure passage of legislation significant to the company because nothing could get through the House without his support.

Notably, Westar made its donation to one of DeLay's PACs, Texans for a Republican Majority, the same PAC now under criminal investigation in Texas for, among other things, money laundering.

[Greyskye]

3. Outside groups prohibited from filing ethics charges

I heard this on NPR this morning, and was going to post on this topic myself. This is insane!

If the Dems can't file on the Repubs, and the Repubs can't file on the Dems, and outside groups can't file on either, WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO FILE ANY ETHICS COMPLAINTS? ZELL MILLER? :wtf:

Why isn't this getting any love from DU? This is huge!
:mad: