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| U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks is co-sponsoring a bill that would limit an ethics agency’s ability to publicize its investigations. |
The Office of Congressional Ethics was created in 2008 as an independent, bipartisan board with the power to investigate ethical violations by members of the House of Representatives and make referrals to the house ethics committee.
Sponsored by 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the new legislation would make it harder for the OCE to start investigations, issue public statements and disclose their reports to the public.
Meeks was given multiple opportunities to address this paper's concern that the bill he is co-sponsoring could potentially benefit him personally. He has declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Meeks, Candace Sandy, deferred all comment to Marcia Fudge (D-OH), the bill's main sponsor.
In 2007 and 2008, six members of the Congressional Black Caucus took corporate sponsored trips to the Caribbean.
On Feb. 26, 2010, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct released a statement finding U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) in violation of House ethics rules, and clearing five other representatives.
That day, the OCE on its Web site released the results of its investigation into five of those representatives. The reports cite "substantial reason to believe" that the representatives violated House rules, and include evidence.
The new legislation would have prevented the OCE from releasing its reports on those representatives whom the committee did not find evidence sufficient to warrant admonishment.
It is not fair to make politically motivated allegations public, said Belinda Prinz, communications director for Fudge. The Caribbean junket was reported to the OCE by the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative, nongovernmental watchdog.
"You can't put the horse back in the barn," she said. "In some cases, there is legitimate reason not to have disclosure. That is the hole that the congresswoman would like to plug."
According to a statement by Fudge, the legislation would:
Prohibit unwarranted and premature publication of OCE's reports and findings that detail alleged allegations associated with violations; direct the OCE to amend its rules to clearly define the standard of proof required to initiate reviews or refer any matter to the Ethics Committee; and allow the Ethics Committee to dismiss a matter referred by the OCE as frivolous or unfounded, requiring the OCE to seal the records associated with those cases.
"The processes must be fair to all people involved," Fudge said of the impetus behind the bill. "This proposal brings Congress in line with America's judicial system by creating a process truly free of politics, avoiding trials in the court of public opinion, and stopping the premature release of reports."
The legislation would gut the OCE, said Sarah Dufendach, vice president for legislative affairs for Common Cause, a government watchdog.
"They are only not needed, they cannot happen," she said. "We go back to the days where the ethics committee can bury everything in a big black hole. That is the problem that the OCE was created to solve."
In 2008, Meeks co-sponsored a bill that would have created a body very similar to the OCE, but would have granted the body additional powers, including the ability to issue subpoenas. The OCE does not have subpoena power, but merely makes recommendations to the House Ethics Committee.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the bill creating the OCE through in 2008, promising to clean house. Although it would be politically risky to amend OCE rules before the mid-term elections, she is willing to start a dialogue after the elections, according to The Hill, a DC-based newspaper that reports on Congress.