March 9, 2006
Washington- As the Senate debates a crackdown on some of the lobbying excesses brought to light by Jack Abramoff's criminal antics, Sen. George Voinovich has become the foremost foe of a major reform sought by watchdog groups.
The Ohio Republican, who chairs the Senate Ethics Committee, ardently opposes creation of an independent "public integrity" office to police members of Congress. He says that's his committee's job, and he promises to lead the fight against the proposed office.
Voinovich says his committee will "get into the Abramoff situation" after the Justice Department finishes investigating the lobbyist's claims of bribing members of Congress. He insists that the new institution championed by Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine "would be redundant."
"Why create another entity that will do the same thing we are already doing and build up a big staff?" asked Voinovich, who fears it could be used to trumpet politically motivated charges.
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Watchdog groups say that House and Senate ethics committees aren't accountable enough to the public and that the proposed office would supplement their operations.
"I believe there is simply a basic credibility problem in the notion of members of Congress having the sole responsibility to look at and determine whether their colleagues have violated ethics rules," said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, who has criticized Voinovich for refusing to take up the Abramoff matter.
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