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January 4, 2008

From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:


Democrats Broken Promises on Congressional Ethics Reform

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s campaign season again and, per usual, the candidates are doling out the campaign promises. But what about all of those promises made during the last election? Specifically, what happened to the major ethics reform House Speaker Pelosi vowed to provide in the first days of her reign on the Hill?
Well, just before Christmas, we finally got our answer. That’s when Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Michael Capuano released a report by the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement, which he chaired, outlining a strategy to address congressional corruption.

As you may recall, I was a participant in these ethics reform discussions, testifying before Capuano’s task force last year. From the beginning, I was concerned that by the time ethics reform proposals made it through the congressional vetting process they would be so watered down as to be useless. As it turns out, I was right to be worried. Initially, my understanding was the Cong. Capuano had proposed some significant reforms. Evidently, it looks to me that the good reforms were not much liked by his party’s leadership and have been watered down.

The good news is that the task force does recommend the creation of a quasi-independent panel (called the Office of Congressional Ethics) to consider ethics complaints. Members of the office are to be appointed by congressional leadership and are to conduct a “preliminary reviewâ€