by Paul Wylie

Created on: August 18, 2008

Why We Need Independent Oversight Of Congress

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct generally has jurisdiction to investigate members of Congress and whether or not they have committed an ethics violation such as receiving inappropriate gifts, gifts or money from foreign entities, or bribes from lobbyists. They have many rules regarding the use of free private corporate transportation, vacations that are disguised as fact finding missions, and even rules as to what stock may be owned by a serving member of Congress.

The Committee touts it's many investigations and resolutions of various complaints against House members, but the simple fact is that the Committee has degenerated into little more than a sham that is used not to investigate actual wrongdoing of importance, but as a political weapon of gotcha by both political parties.

Some recent cases that you may or may not have heard of pretty much sums up exactly what the Standards Committee has turned into.

James McDermott gave the N.Y. Times a recording of a telephone conversation between Boehner and Gingrich in which they were discussing how to skew a Congressional investigation into Gingrich's activities, that was recorded by a Florida couple. Using cell phones, Boehner and Gingrich must have known that scanners can pick up the conversations. Whatever the case, the two were discussing what should have amounted to criminal activity, because they were conspiring to interfere with a Congressional oversight committee investigation of Gingrich. What happened instead was a ten year nightmare for McDermott, because he was sued and pursued relentlessly by House Republicans, who demanded the Standards Committee investigate McDermott.

In 2004, the Standards Committee sent Tom DeLay a letter admonishing him for all of his ethics violations, but since sham criminal proceedings were going to take place in Texas, the Committee settled for just slapping DeLay on the wrist. Had DeLay not resigned in disgrace, he could actually still be a member of Congress.

Again in 2004, the Committee gave an admonishment to criminal conduct of House member Nick Smith in the matter of his voting a certain way on the new Medicare Bill in order to gain support for his son's Congressional candidacy. Oh. By the way, DeLay was part of that one also. Admonishment. Not ouster, loss of position, admonishment. Other recent House members who 'got away with it' include John Boehner, Harry Reid, and Charles Rangel.

Then we turn and take a look

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