Common Cause Blog

Hey, Senate: Git-R-Dun on Ethics Reform!

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, also known as S. 1, or the ethics and lobbying reform bill, is not everything we had hoped it to be. And it's nowhere near what we'd like it to be despite its lofty title and low number.

That's all right.

If the Senate gives its approval to S. 1 this week, as it's expected to do, Congress will finally have produced tighter ethics and lobbying rules after being dragged through the mud of the Abramoff, Foley, Ney and Cunningham scandals of years past. And we'll soon be reminded of why we went to this trouble, when Rep. William Jefferson, D-LA, goes to trial.

Will Congress Finally Get It?

So now Rep. William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, D-LA (or D-Freezer, if you're the Feds) has been indicted on federal bribery, racketeering and money-laundering charges.

Aside from the obvious (never stash 90 grand in your freezer or try to solicit bribes while holding elected office), do you think Congress, and specifically, the Democratic leadership, will learn anything from this?

Here's a suggestion: You campaigned to create an "ethical Congress" but then you came up short on reform, specifically tracking the money that pays for "Astroturf lobbying" and a two-year "cooling off" period for yourselves and key staff.

But you've got one more shot to make things better. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has a task force out there led by Michael Capuano, D-MA, to study whether the House should have some independent ethics oversight.

"We'll know it when we see it" is not good enough

Roll Call asks an excellent question: when it comes to Members of Congress who come under criminal investigation, what is the rule for stepping down from important committee posts? The answer, simply put, is that there isn't one.

House rules provide only that when a Member is convicted of a crime carrying a sentence of more than two years, he or she "should not" engage in committee business or vote on the floor. Further action is up to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the House membership.

Both parties have formal rules that a leader or committee chairman who's indicted automatically steps down from those posts, but there is no formal rule applying to rank-and-file Members.

Well, uh...that just sounds like an invitation to do nothing...

Oh, and what do you know?!

House ethics: You snooze, you lose

House Democrats want to be seen as the standard-bearers of ethics reform in government - but their efforts seemed to have stalled somewhere after the "100 hours" ended.

From today's Post:

The promise to end the "culture of corruption" they said developed in Washington under Republican rule helped propel Democrats into the majority in November elections. But after a promising start, lawmakers appear to be backing off a proposal for an independent entity to investigate ethics charges...after weeks of meetings, a House task force studying the issue says the group has not begun discussing a plan and will probably miss its May 1 reporting deadline.

Let the excuses begin! There's something called an "options menu" out there...and this gem from task force Chairman Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA):

"We were asked to consider whether there is a need for, a desire for this," Capuano said. "The answer we might come up with is, 'No, we don't need one.'"

Pardon me? Did I misread that? After DeLay, Ney, Cunningham, Jefferson, and Foley, they can't possibly delude themselves that the current ethics process works and doesn't need outside enforcement.

Or can they?

"We've got to do something or be wildly ridiculed," said a staffer working on the issue. "But members are always going to be worried about giving up some of their power."

Follow me inside to read what the watchdogs are saying, including a quote from our own Sarah Dufendach.

Meet Inmate # 28882-016

Meet Inmate # 28882-016:

Inmate # 28882-016 is 52 years old. He was born in Wheeling, WV, attended OSU, and has been married twice, with two children. He also has some crazy bad hair and a smarmy smile, but that's immaterial. He had a long career he enjoyed; it was profitable, and he was good at it. Sounds pretty average and benign, right?

But then Mr. 28882-016 fell in with the wrong crowd. He made some bad decisions, and eventually they caught up with him. He betrayed everyone who had ever trusted him, betrayed the very purpose of his long and storied career. Today, Mr. 28882-016 reported to federal prison to begin a 30-month sentence on felony charges.

And I'm jumping with joy that this menace is off the streets.

Who is this man, and why do I harbor such a deep dislike for him? This man who has apologized, admitted his guilt, and sought treatment for addiction? The man who, in a farewell letter yesterday to friends, said, with complete disregard of basic grammar rules, the following (emphasis mine)?

as garth brooks said in his song the dance:

and now i'm glad i didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go
our lives are better left to chance,
i could have missed the pain,
but i'd have had to miss, the dance

Bob Ney: Give. Me. A. Break.

Another Abramoff casualty

Well, the Abramoff circus isn't quite over; in fact, it appears to have a lot of life left in it. The latest name to surface is Will Heaton, Bob Ney's former chief of staff, who just agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

Heaton was involved in the scandal, according to The Hill, from August 2002 through August 2004.

Over those two years, Heaton accepted numerous favors from Abramoff and other members of his lobbying firm, including a now-infamous all-expense-paid golf trip to Scotland. Heaton was also was one of several recipients of a number of other trips abroad, concert and sporting-event tickets, meals and gambling chips, all taken with full knowledge the gifts were in exchange for official favors from Ney.

During one of those trips, Heaton and another staffer helped Ney conceal $5,000 brought into the country through customs and stored the money in a safe inside Ney's congressional office. Court documents said Heaton "open[ed] the safe as requested so that Ney could make repeated withdrawals."

Heaton knowingly falsified his 2002 and 2003 financial disclosure forms and assisted Ney in misrepresenting his travel disclosure form about the receipt of gifts from Abramoff and others.

Follow me inside for what this may mean for other members of Congress and their staffers...

Bob Ney sentenced to 30 months

Bob Ney, go directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect any golf trips to Scotland.

Former Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a congressional bribery scandal.

Ney, the first congressman ensnared in the case, pleaded guilty to trading official favors for golf trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Thirty months, plus two years probation and a paltry $6,000 fine and alcohol rehabilitation. However...

The sentence was harsher than recommended by prosecutors or Ney's lawyers, Huvelle said, because Ney had violated the trust place on him as a public official. "Both your constituents and the public trusted you to represent them honestly," she said.

Trust. The trust placed in a lawmaker by the people who vote for him or her cannot be overvalued. Too often, elected officials fail to understand that, or take it for granted, treating constituents like mere annoyances to be trifled with while keeping the eye on the bigger prize - more power, more money.

As Bob Ney has found out, that's not what the citizenry is there for. That's not what prompts a voter to go to the polls and pull a lever, punch a chad, fill in a circle, connect an arrow, or plod around a computer screen and hope their vote is counted. Trust. If you abuse it, you'll pay. It may take longer than it should, but eventually you'll be made to pay with your job, your credibility and reputation, your pocketbook, and your physical freedom.

Just ask ex-Representative Robert William Ney (OH-18) about those consequences.