Contact: Lisa Gilbert (202) 546-9707
A Washington, D.C. News Release
Washington, D.C.: U.S. PIRG Applauds Increased Ethics Committee Activity But Questions Ethics Committee Criticism of Office of Congressional Ethics
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 – The unauthorized release of House Ethics Committee and Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) information on Thursday had one positive aspect: it showed that the work to tackle and resolve ethics issues in the House of Representatives appears to be moving forward.
“Yesterday, we learned about the depth of work the Ethics Committee is engaged in, with at least two dozen members under investigation by the Committee. The increased activity is due in part to the good work and complete information the OCE is providing to the Committee,” said
Lisa
Gilbert, Democracy Advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
“U.S. PIRG has been engaged in improving the transparency and strength of the House ethics process, and we are pleased that yesterday’s accidental release indicates that more activity is occurring in the Ethics Committee than has been seen in recent years,” Gilbert added.
“The new Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to ‘drain the ethics swamp’ in the House of Representatives can take some very real credit for this increase in action,” she concluded.
Ironically, the breach of information occurred on the same day as a pivotal milestone in the relationship between the House Ethics Committee and the OCE.
On Thursday, the Ethics Committee empanelled two investigative subcommittees on Members of Congress and released the fact-finding document prepared by the OCE Representative Sam Graves (D-MO) as they dismissed his case.
The report on Mr. Graves was accompanied by a strong, 20-page attack on the OCE’s workings. One of the key complaints included accusations that allegedly too much information was being included in the fact-findings, when the Ethics Committee felt that only “limited public findings,” should be included.
“These uncalled for allegations raise serious concerns that the Ethics Committee is engaged in an effort to weaken and potentially eliminate the Office,” Gilbert said.
“The OCE was created with the intent to shed light on the black hole’ of the House ethics process and to create fact-finding reports to enable a reader the ability to judge why a case was dismissed by the Committee. To attack this work is to look a gift-horse in the mouth, and undermines a two-pronged process, OCE and Ethics, that is clearly succeeding,” Gilbert concluded.
