Quote:
Originally Posted by dogzilla
We have to start somewhere, and no politician is perfect. Heck, the cowardly democrats refused to have any kind of trial for Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters...
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One of the most significant features of the ethic reforms that the Democrats enacted in 2007 (with no Republican support) was the creation of the quasi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).
As a result, for the first time ever, ethics charges could be raised and investigated without having to rely on the Ethics Committee itself to initiate an action, which if one looks back throughout history rarely occurred (most recently, many of the Republicans who were charged with crimes in the Abramoff scandal never faced an Ethics Committee investigation).
It was through the actions of the OCE that Maxine Waters is facing an investigation.
What will happen to the OCE, if Boehner were to become Speaker:
Quote:
House Republicans are chortling over the Democratic majority’s troubles with ethics allegations, but they also are ominously signaling their distaste for the Office of Congressional Ethics — the one new player on Capitol Hill with a clear determination to do something about the morass.
The Republican minority leader, John Boehner, said he wants to “take a look” at the office if his party regains majority power — a reminder that his members fiercely opposed the quasi-independent office when it was created two years ago by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Mr. Boehner wondered aloud how effective the office really is, ignoring its considerable record for discreetly investigating alleged misbehavior on both sides of the aisle and letting the chips fall where they may....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/op...thu3.html?_r=1
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Like the
campaign finance reform act passed by the House Democrats earlier this year (and blocked in the Senate), this 2007 ethics reform act does not go far enough.
But, I am of the opinion that even small incremental steps to correct abuses are better than the status quo in both cases.