House Ethics Tightrope
House Republicans tout reforms but plan ethics rollback.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/rules-of-the-game/boehner-walks-tightrope-on-reform-20101115Boehner has invited reform-minded freshmen to join his majority transition team, and he has drawn up an impressive laundry list of pending House reforms: Earmarks are out; transparency is in; bills will be crafted in the open and publicly posted well before votes. As Boehner put it in a YouTube video touting the GOP's plans, "Now more than ever, citizens want to participate in government and hold their leaders accountable."
But behind closed doors, Boehner’s agenda clashes head-on with the populist rhetoric of many newly elected Republican House members. Even as they outline institutional reforms, GOP leaders are gearing up to kill the fledgling Office of Congressional Ethics, which helps police ethics complaints. They are handpicking top aides, many of them old K Street hands, to staff key committees and Capitol Hill offices. Some tea party activists grouse that lobbyists and insiders are trying to "co-opt" the GOP freshmen.
Boehner "has clearly got a big problem on his hands," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "He’s an establishment, country-club Republican trying to embrace the tea party folks without making any of the changes they require. It’s a delicate balance."
snip
Asked about the OCE, Buck said that Boehner will "take a look at current ethics rules" but that ethics "has really not been the focus of our transition efforts." GOP leaders probably won't vote publicly to kill the OCE but will simply quietly defund it next year, said John Wonderlich, policy director of the Sunlight Foundation. The foundation has been working with GOP transition leaders on their transparency agenda and has lobbied for the OCE’s preservation.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
