"""Ethics"""

[1stRambo]

Yo,

"GTP"

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Well den, mebbe Obama oughta pardon Jesse Jackson Jr.

House GOP votes to gut independent ethics office
January 2, 2017 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison.

The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control. Under the ethics change pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics would fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. It would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members," according to Goodlatte's office.

Lawmakers would have the final say under the change. House Republicans voted 119-74 for the Goodlatte measure despite arguments from Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., against the change. They failed to sway rank-and-file Republicans, some of whom have felt unfairly targeted by the OCE. "The amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics," Goodlatte said in a statement.

Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily. "Republicans claim they want to 'drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions," the California lawmaker said in a statement. "Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."

Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters, said Ryan should be ashamed of himself and his leadership team. "We all know the so-called House Ethics Committee is worthless for anything other than a whitewash — sweeping corruption under the rug. That's why the independent Office of Congressional Ethics has been so important. The OCE works to stop corruption and that's why Speaker Ryan is cutting its authority. Speaker Ryan is giving a green light to congressional corruption."

The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case.

House GOP votes to gut independent ethics office

 

[waltky]

Congress backs down after backlash...

New Republican Congress reverses ethics move after outcry
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 - Republicans drop a proposal to gut a congressional ethics watchdog after a critical Donald Trump tweet.

Republicans are to drop a plan to gut the independent body that investigates political misconduct after a backlash. The lawmakers' surprise vote to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence prompted public outcry and a dressing down from Donald Trump. "Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!" the president-elect said. The proposal was dropped in an emergency meeting at the new Congress, unnamed lawmakers told the US media.

Bob Goodlatte and Donald Trump​

Mr Trump made cleaning up corruption in Washington a key theme of his campaign, and he ended his tweet with "#DTS", an acronym for "drain the swamp". Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had argued unsuccessfully against the vote, but on Tuesday he defended the proposal. "I want to make clear that this House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and the Office will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress," he said.

A win for Trump - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Donald Trump's tweets have teeth. The president-elect took to social media to express his displeasure with the move and within hours those legislative efforts were abandoned. The independent ethics investigators had been a source of discomfort for members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, and there was significant interest in limiting their ability to conduct inquiries. Even after Mr Trump's tweets, many congressional Republicans appeared reluctant to back down. House Speaker Paul Ryan, an initial opponent of the measure, issued a statement defending the change.

That ended up being little comfort to the party rank and file, however, as pressure increased for them to bend to Mr Trump's political will. In his first confrontation with congressional leadership, the president-elect displayed his dominance. Mr Trump now has a valuable talking point when discussions inevitably turn back to his own ethical questions, such as how he will handle potential conflicts of interest involving his sprawling business empire. He has made it a bit easier, at least for now, to claim he's standing behind his drain-the-Washington-swamp campaign rhetoric.

Under the change: