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The Myth of Congressional Ethics
The Myth of Congressional Ethics
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own
governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
James Madison
Letter to W.T. Barry (1822-08-04), in Gaillard Hunt, ed., The Writings of James
Madison vol. 9 (1910), p. 103.
Congress is broken. There seems little doubt about that, what with the Congressional
approval rating hovering around 16 percent. As divided as our nation is on many issues, this is
something on which we all Democrat, Republican, or otherwise can agree. We all know
theyre doing a terrible job, but we seem to be at a loss to figure out what to do about it. We are
apathetic and discouraged, and, for the most part, rightly so, because we have no confidence that
anyone we would vote in to office to replace them would be any better. Ask yourself whether you
have any confidence that anyone you could vote into Congressional office would truly have your
best interests at heart. Im willing to bet the answer is a resounding no. I know mine is.
Im also willing to bet that, even as fed up and tired as you are of all the gridlock,
partisanship, and political grandstanding that passes for governing these days, you still believe
that your Congressional representatives are subject to at least a minimal ethical standard. For a
long time, I thought so too. Until I did some digging, that is, and Im here to tell you that
Congressional ethics are a myth a complete sham. Why? Its quite simple really: the inmates
are running the asylum.
In both the House of Representatives and the Senate ethical violations are handled by
their own internal committees. Thats right. Congress decides for itself whether its members have
committed any ethical violations and, if so, what to do about it. Whats worse, in many
situations, the information is completely confidential or, if it is made public, it isnt until long
after the violation occurred following a cumbersome and secretive investigation.
The Senate Select Committee on Ethics, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and
Johnny Isakson (R-GA), is charged with investigating and punishing ethics violations committed
by senators. When do you think the committee last acted on any ethical violation alleged against
any senator? This year? Last year? Try more than three years ago. Thats right, the last time the
committee publicly acted on an ethics violation was in May of 2012, when it issued letters of
qualified admonition whatever that means to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and an aide for
former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) regarding the Ensign scandal.
Even in those two cases, there was no sanction imposed, only an admonition, and a
qualified one at that. So lets get this straight. Sen. Ensign, among other things, has an affair,
which he then tries to cover up with the help of his good friend Sen. Coburn, who tries to broker
a bribery scheme with the adulteress and her husband, and the only punishment imposed on Sen.
Coburn is an admonition. In a nutshell, they said, You know, Sen. Coburn, bribery really isnt
consistent with the integrity we expect from senators. Please dont do it again. I wish this was
a joke, but whats worse is that theyre completely serious. Another job well done by the Senate
Ethics Committee; pats on the back all around everyone.
What happened with the other complaints investigated by the committee you might
ask? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The committee dismissed every other complaint submitted to
it in 2012 (44), 2013 (26), and 2014 (45). Apparently, not a single senator has committed a single
ethics violation in over three years. Im fairly certain that most , if not all of you, dont believe
that for a second.
As if this isnt bad enough, the committees investigations are completely confidential.
Theres no transparency whatsoever. The committee doesnt have to, and doesnt, tell us the
people Congress supposedly represents anything. We dont know what the allegations were,
what investigation was conducted, what the evidence was, or why the complaint was dismissed.
All we know is that an allegation, of some sort, was made. We dont even know against whom
the allegation was made. And, because Congress isnt subject to the Freedom of Information Act,
they dont have to tell us. Thats right neither you, nor I, nor anyone else, has any right to any
information regarding any of these investigations.
All we get are statistics released in a one-and-a-half page annual report telling us the
number of complaints received and other meaningless information about what was done with
those complaints for example, the number of complaints dismissed for lack of jurisdiction or
for which the staff conducted a preliminary review.
However, even the sparse information in those reports tells us something is gravely
amiss. Of the 45 complaints the committee received in 2014, it dismissed 27 for lack of
jurisdiction and 17 because they failed to provide sufficient facts as to any material violation of
the Senate rules beyond mere allegation or assertion. The staff conducted a preliminary
investigation into only two alleged violations, including one carried over from 2013. So, in
reality, they preliminarily investigated only one of the 45 complaints received in 2014. Of the
complaints the staff investigated, none were sent to the committee for adjudicatory review. In
fact, the committee has not conducted an adjudicatory review of any alleged violation since
before 2007, the last year for which a public report is available on the committees website. In
fact, of the 71 complaints received in 2013 and 2014, only one made it passed the staffs
preliminary review and was even reviewed by the committee itself, and that complaint was
dismissed for lack of substantial merit again, whatever that means.
The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, while slightly more transparent, is
really no better. Ultimately, the result of their investigations are made public, but only after a
lengthy and cumbersome investigation, the end result of which is that, by the time the
investigation is completed, no one is paying attention anymore. Who cares if a representative is
publicly admonished three years after committing an ethical violation? By the time the
committee gets around to doing anything, the media and the public have moved on. And, guess
what? Thats what theyre counting on.
Understanding the process, like everything else in our government these days, is a bit
complicated, so bear with me. In 2008, in an apparent attempt to improve ethics, the House voted
to create the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent board of members half appointed
by the House speaker and half by the minority leader is charged with investigating complaints
of ethical violations against members of the House. After receiving a complaint, the board
http://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/APPENDIX%20A%20Part
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