House Republicans vote to gut Office of Congressional Ethics

Again?

The Russians did it

quote:

---

LINK /

---

Have you really gotten this lazy? Sigh. Let a conservative do this for you;

quote:

---

House Republicans vote to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison.

The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.

Under the ethics change pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics would fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. It would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that “any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members,” according to Goodlatte’s office.

Lawmakers would have the final say under the change. House Republicans voted 119-74 for the Goodlatte measure.

“The amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics,” the congressman said in a statement.

Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily.

“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” the California lawmaker said in a statement. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”

Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters, said Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., should be ashamed of himself and his leadership team.

“We all know the so-called House Ethics Committee is worthless for anything other than a whitewash — sweeping corruption under the rug. That’s why the independent Office of Congressional Ethics has been so important. The OCE works to stop corruption and that’s why Speaker Ryan is cutting its authority. Speaker Ryan is giving a green light to congressional corruption.”

The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case.

---

quote:

---

The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case.

---

I want to make sure I understand this. Before the OCE was created, a few members of Confress were arrested for corruption charges. Since it's inception, have there been any arrests?

So we know that Trump will take credit when this inevitably doesn't go through, right?

That's pretty typical of the Republicans when they get power. With all of the issues facing the country, they choose to start with gutting ethics reform. Well, the country can get ready for a repeat of shite like that corrupt Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff (or as I like to call him, Abram Jack-off).

quote:

---

So changing a """nonpartisan""" panel of individuals

---

It was an independent panel. Now ethics will be overseen by the Republicans. That's like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

quote:

---

Freaking hilarious and comical....This is just the beginning.

---

Yep. Bunch of hypocritical Republican a-holes. They pontificate all the time about how "righteous" they are, and the first thing they do in the new year is gut an independent ethics panel and put their own in charge of it. What a joke. "Drain the swamp," yeah, right.

quote:

---

Since it's inception, have there been any arrests?

---

I know there hasn't been any more Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff bullshite since its inception. What your typically simplistic mindset is failing to understand is that when someone knows they are being scrutinized and there is oversight to their behavior, they are more likely to tow the line. Have you ever heard the saying, "It's hard to prove a negative?" Well, we really don't know how much corrupt shite was prevented by the ethics panel, because if it was prevented, it didn't happen, so there is no clear score to keep.

quote:

---

It was an independent panel.

---

. . . of selected partisans!

The committee would conduct "investigations". Publically besmirch their targets by announcing they were targets of an ethics investigation. Then they would make no such announcement when the target was cleared.

quote:

---

Quit your lying. I know that's hard for a con, but at least make an honest effort.

---

This shite has got you all riled up.