The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the most important ethics reform for the House in a generation, appears to be safe from being disbanded for now. While Republican leadership has never liked the idea of the OCE, this was the right thing to do.
Of course, the OCE’s work will be for naught if the House Ethics Committee ignores its recommendations, which is exactly what happened last week in the per diem scandal.
In March 2010, Judicial Watch sent a letter to the OCE requesting a full investigation of members of Congress who illegally pocket leftover per diem travel funds. (House rules mandate all leftover per diem funds be returned.)
“In the least, there is evidence of a general misunderstanding among lawmakers that unused per diems may be converted for personal use. At worst, members may be illegally pocketing taxpayer funds,” Judicial Watch stated in its letter of complaint, while noting it is a federal criminal offense to convert public money for personal use.
The OCE did its job well — investigating the matter and recommending the House Ethics Committee pursue its own investigation. The OCE investigation focused on six Members of Congress: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL); Rep. G.K. Butterfield ( D-NC); Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL); Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX); and Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-SC). But that’s not going to happen.
According to The Washington Post:
The House ethics committee has decided not to pursue an investigation of lawmakers’ use of travel stipends, despite findings from an independent ethics board that six members of Congress improperly kept or spent money estimated to total $7,575.
But wait, here’s the truly confounding part, as related by the Post:
In recommending a dismissal of the matter, ethics committee staffers wrote that although the lawmakers admitted to using per diem money for gifts, which “the Committee would agree would not be appropriate, there is no evidence that per diem was actually used for such expenses.”
No evidence? Members of Congress admitted to the wrongdoing. Rep. Aderholt said he used the money to buy t-shirts for his son, postcards, a wallet and some leather goods. All at taxpayer expense. That’s what he told investigators. Since when is a full confession not considered evidence of misconduct? Only in Washington, DC.
This decision by the House Ethics Committee is astonishing. (You can read the full House Ethics Committee report here.)
Unfortunately, this is not the only bad news I have to report regarding ethics in the House of Representatives (or lack thereof).
There are now credible reports of apparent corruption by members of the House Ethics Committee themselves! And this alleged corruption is benefiting the contemptible partners-in-crime, Maxine Waters and Barney Frank. Waters was set to be tried by the Committee months ago, but the probe has been thrown off the rails.
The Washington Post politely contends the recent ethics morass is due to “infighting” among committee members over how to proceed with the investigation of Waters, described by the Post as “one of the most prominent investigations” ever undertaken by the committee. (As you may recall, this probe involves Waters’ efforts to secure a TARP grant for the failing OneUnited Bank, in which her husband had a significant investment. Click here to read evidence of the criminal behavior uncovered by Judicial Watch.)
But the problem isn’t infighting at all. It’s obstruction by then-House Ethics Committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who appears to be sabotaging the Waters investigation at every turn. (Lofgren remains on the committee, the membership of which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.)
According to the professional committee staff leading the investigation, Lofgren has refused to issue subpoenas for records related to the scandal, instead waiting for “voluntary compliance” on the part of Waters and her co-conspirator, Rep. Barney Frank. (Click here to read more on Frank’s participation.)
Then, after hamstringing the committee by refusing to allow the subpoenas, Lofgren delayed the ethics committee hearing, blaming the staff for “failing to collect needed documents,” the Post reported. (Despite Lofgren’s stonewall tactics, committee staff told Lofgren they were prepared to move forward with a hearing immediately, but to no avail.)
Lofgren also reportedly told staff members they must shorten their presentation of the evidence from 30 hours, which they requested, to just 6 hours, which they said would compromise their ability to present a “fair, thorough and effective” case.
By the way, slipped into the end of the Post’s account of the Waters investigation is one very important detail. The person on Waters’ staff who was “at the center of her office’s interactions with OneUnited,” was none other than her own grandson and Chief of Staff, Mikael Moore. (This OneUnited scandal is a true “family affair” for Waters.) Moore, for his part, refuses to comply with a subpoena for emails from his private account that might provide further evidence of corruption.
As a result of Lofgren’s shenanigans, House Ethics Committee staff have resigned or been put on paid leave. Maxine and Barney must be laughing.
We appreciate that the Tea Party Congress kept the Office of Congressional Ethics. Now it needs to fix the awful Ethics Committee. True to our non-partisan and educational mission, Judicial Watch assisted then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team as they tried to reform the House ethics process. Our partnership resulted in the establishment of the Office of Congressional Ethics. We stand ready to help Speaker Boehner and his team in any reform effort.
Clearly we have our work cut out for us in 2011.
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