Dems press Pelosi for ethics panel

More than 20 freshman Democrats have signed a letter urging a special task force convened by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to endorse the creation of an independent ethics enforcement process to police the conduct of House lawmakers.

Government watchdog groups that helped Democrats win control of Congress by making ethics a prominent political issue last year say establishing such an office on the Hill is the most important element of ethics reform. 

{mosads}The letter will be sent next week to Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), whom Pelosi tapped at the beginning of the year to lead the task force on ethics enforcement. The task force will hold its first public hearing today.

“We think it’s important that an independent body be established to investigate ethical lapses,” said freshman Rep. Zack Space (D) of Ohio’s 18th district, formerly represented by Bob Ney (R), who is now serving a federal prison sentence.

“I come from a district marred by scandal,” said Space, who is one of the organizers of the freshman Democrats’ letter-writing campaign. Organizers will continue to gather signatures through the end of this week.

Support for an independent ethics review of House lawmakers has swelled among the freshmen in recent weeks. Eight first-term Democrats cosponsored legislation introduced by freshman Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) before the April recess that would establish an independent ethics commission within the legislative branch.

A Democrat working on the push for independent ethics review said the letter is separate from Hill’s legislation. The letter is strong and assertive, but does not specify what type of independent enforcement agency the special task force should propose, the Democrat added.

While popular with new members of the House, the idea of an ethics review board made up of independent investigators remains unpopular with old bulls.

“We set up an ethics committee to let people involved in the [legislative] process judge what’s going on,” said Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who is serving his 18th term and has a loyal group of supporters in the chamber. “To me, it should be kept inside the Congress and the members of Congress should make the judgments.”

Murtha famously told colleagues in a private meeting last year during his race for majority leader that he thought a Democratic ethics reform package then under consideration was “total crap.” 

Meredith McGehee, the policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, an advocacy group that has urged the creation of an independent ethics watchdog, said other senior lawmakers share Murtha’s skepticism of an independent ethics office.

“For the most part the older bulls are with Mr. Murtha,” said McGehee, who said she had discussed an independent ethics office with about two dozen Democratic offices. 

McGehee, who will testify at today’s hearing, said support for a new ethics board is growing as lawmakers realize that the 10-member House ethics panel is losing credibility as a vigorous enforcer of the rules.

“Whether there’s enough support to get an ethics board out of the task force is an open question,” she said. Also scheduled to testify today are Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, another group advocating ethics reform; Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, a conservative good-government group; and Don Wolfensberger, director of the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Capuano said Democrats believe that voters’ concern about congressional ethics was a major reason Democrats triumphed at the polls last year and said Pelosi and other leaders were seriously interested in considering an independent ethics-review process.

“I believe the questions on ethics did help us win elections,” he said. Capuano noted that the House already has adopted new internal ethics rules and said party leaders “take seriously any proposal to improve the ethics process.”

Capuano said he has purposely avoided bringing up the subject of an independent ethics office for general discussion in the Democratic Caucus because he wanted his colleagues to be aware of the details of how it would work before they took stances for or against it.

“Once people take a position on anything, they tend to get stuck in their position,” he said. Capuano said that after the hearings, he and other task force members would hold “a series of private discussions” with fellow lawmakers about ethics enforcement.

Rep. Bruce Braley, a freshman Democrat who signed the letter on ethics enforcement, said that independent boards have a good record of overseeing conduct in his home state of Iowa. Braley said such entities have provided effective oversight of doctors, nurses, attorneys and other professionals. He thinks the same method of ethics review could work in Congress.

But if the task force ultimately rejects independent enforcement, freshman Democrats likely would still support a comprehensive ethics and lobbying reform bill that leaders are expected to unveil later this month.

“Any action is better than none,” Space said of a bill that lacked a mechanism for independent enforcement. Such legislation would be “an important expression of intent,” he said.

The task force has been given a deadline of May 1 to issue a recommendation on establishing a new ethics office. Capuano said that the deadline is not strict but that he will push for the committee to complete its work soon.