Congress Needs Independent Watch Dog

By Meshawn Ayala, Iowa PIRG Citizen Outreach Director

The last month must have been bleak for our leaders in congress. The ethics bill passed during the first 100 hours has drastically reduced the free trips and wining and dining our representatives have received from special interests.

This week, in an attempt dismantle these new ethics rules, the minority leader of the House, Representative John Boehner, declared that they were "hopelessly broken."  But we know the problem is not that there are too many rules but that there's no enforcement.

Contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Task Force Chairman Michael Capuano now and tell that congress needs an independent watch dog.

To take action, click on this link

Then ask your friends and family to help by forwarding them this email.

Background

Former Congressmen Duke Cunningham (CA) and Robert Ney (OH) were caught trading votes for campaign contributions and other bribes. Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff landed in jail for masterminding efforts using campaign contributions to steer public funds to his pet projects. Rep William Jefferson (LA) is under investigation after the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer and former Rep.Tom DeLay is still defending himself against corruption charges.  Several top legislative and White House aides have already pled guilty to corruption charges and this may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Scrutiny by the press and others has shown grossly inadequate rules and lax enforcement of the rules in Congress covering ethics and lobbying practices.

After two years of foot-dragging, excuses and even refusals to acknowledge the problems, the new Congress in its opening session took its first critical steps in changing the way business is done in Washington. The overwhelming support (the measures passed 430 to 1) for new restrictions on lobbyist-funded trips and gifts sends a powerful message that the new Congress is taking the need for reform seriously.  This is a sea-change from the ill-conceived and ineffectual bill considered and passed by the House during the scandal plagued session last year.    

There is more to be done and topping the list is the establishment of an independent enforcement entity

Key is enforcement

Jack Abramoff's fall from power cannot be credited to an aggressive House or Senate ethics enforcement process.  He was turned in to the Justice Department by a competitor turned whistle-blower. After the initial details of the case came out, the House and Senate Ethics Committees sat on their hands.  They initiated no probe nor asked any questions nor made any attempt to see if members had violated the rules and the public trust.  The House Ethics Committee was so paralyzed they failed to even convene a meeting for most of the 109th Congress.

The current system is broken.  Overseeing one's own colleagues is difficult under any circumstances, but oversight in a partisan-charged environment like the U.S. Congress is, as we have now seen,impossible.  This is not to say that members of Congress are any less capable than others to self-police, no one self-polices well.  In the Executive Branch there is an Office of Government Ethics. Businesses have outside auditors. Congress needs independent and professional oversight and enforcement of the rules.

Beyond the highly touted "first 100 hours," the 110th Congress must move to create outside, professional oversight to ensure the new rules will not be paper tigers and assure the American people that the new Congress will different from the last.

The U.S. House has created an Ethics Task Force to look into the possibility of establishing an independent enforcement office with the power to launch nonpartisan investigations. Their report is due May 1st.

Contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Task Force Chairman Michael Capuano now and tell to them that congress needs an independent watch dog. Then ask your friends and family to do the same by forwarding them this email.

To take action, click on this link

Sincerely,

Meshawn Ayala
Iowa PIRG Citizen Outreach Director
MeshawnA@iowapirg.org
http://www.IowaPIRG.org