Office of Congressional Ethics

[RevDisk]

So, the Republicans were going to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics like a trout. And now allegedly not.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-primed-push-dismantle-obamas-policies-080909190--politics.html?ref=gs
http://www.wbur.org/npr/508043376/after-trump-tweets-criticism-house-gop-drops-weakening-of-house-ethics-office


Back story, there is a House committee on ethics. Which does very very little, because asking Congress to police itself is like asking a cat to not eat a can of tuna left unattended. Republicans voted for it, but not uniformly. The vote was 119 to 74. After being caught with their hands fully in the cookie jar, they backed off. Unanimously.

[roo_ster]

So, the Republicans were going to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics like a trout. And now allegedly not.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-primed-push-dismantle-obamas-policies-080909190--politics.html?ref=gs
http://www.wbur.org/npr/508043376/after-trump-tweets-criticism-house-gop-drops-weakening-of-house-ethics-office


Back story, there is a House committee on ethics. Which does very very little, because asking Congress to police itself is like asking a cat to not eat a can of tuna left unattended. Republicans voted for it, but not uniformly. The vote was 119 to 74. After being caught with their hands fully in the cookie jar, they backed off. Unanimously.

Whelp, these _were_ the folks that were OK with and voted for a kiddie fiddler as Speaker.  How ethical can they be?

[roo_ster]

Looked into the issue and it was supposedly Trump that killed the GOP move to gut the OCE.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gop-to-start-on-ambitious-conservative-agenda-as-congress-convenes-today/2017/01/03/6117cbe2-d1a1-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html

House Republicans back off gutting ethics watchdog after backlash from Trump

“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it . . . may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, health care and so many other things of far greater importance!” Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning, hours before the new Congress convened.

He added the hashtag “DTS” — shorthand for “drain the swamp.”

Damn that Trumpitler!

[Ben]

I haven't researched the full story, so maybe "fake news", but I thought a big factor of this "gutting" was actually supposed to be strengthening the thing, primarily pushed by the dems doing that whole "gun control sit in" thing and not having anything happen to them. I thought the Rs wanted to initiate tighter controls and consequences. Or if the committee wasn't going to do anything about stuff like that, get rid of it as useless.

[DittoHead]

Even Democrats hated it...

There’s absolutely no need for this group

[TommyGunn]

WHAT??!?!??   There are ethics in congress? ? ?   Since WHEN?

[T.O.M.]

As evidenced by my dem friends on FB, it was a great opportunity to attack Republicans for attempting to eliminate an independent group intended to police unethical behavior in Congress, with the implication being that Republicans were trying to sneak through legislation to let them be less ethical.  If it was a good idea, it sure as hell was executed in a dumb way.

[roo_ster]

As evidenced by my dem friends on FB, it was a great opportunity to attack Republicans for attempting to eliminate an independent group intended to police unethical behavior in Congress, with the implication being that Republicans were trying to sneak through legislation to let them be less ethical.  If it was a good idea, it sure as hell was executed in a dumb way.

Stupid Party tricks.

[Ben]

I heard on the news this morning that this committee has a provision much like the unconstitutional gun laws in some states, where anyone can anonymously report you as a threat, and your guns get taken away. The ethics committee apparently has the same kind of reporting provision.  I don't know if "anonymous" only applies to the politicians, or includes all staff, or the general public.

Anyway, it sounds more and more like it actually is a charlie foxtrot of a committee and needs massive overhaul. Still very bad timing though, especially when the stupid party should know how the MSM will spin it.

[RevDisk]

As evidenced by my dem friends on FB, it was a great opportunity to attack Republicans for attempting to eliminate an independent group intended to police unethical behavior in Congress, with the implication being that Republicans were trying to sneak through legislation to let them be less ethical.  If it was a good idea, it sure as hell was executed in a dumb way.

If you pick up a rock and hit yourself repeatedly in the face, well. You shouldn't be exactly surprised at the results.

There's half an ounce of good reasons, and two tons of bad reasons. OCE doesn't prosecute anyone or whatnot. They solely turn over their results to the House ethics committee. If someone was stupid, they'd think the end results go to the committee anyways. So why not just put the committee directly in charge of said agency? It's not like the Senate has an equivalent entity.

Which of course completely ignores that it is a feature, not a bug, that it antagonizes House members with its investigations. And that the independent nature is also a feature, not a bug.

One can't claim anything other than the House Republicans, not unanimously but the majority, made a bad, as well as stupid, move. They fully deserve scorn for it, regardless of partisan politics.

[DittoHead]

it is a feature, not a bug, that it antagonizes House members with its investigations.

Absolutely agree with this. The lying, swindling, sleazy pieces of garbage that inhabit congress deserve far more inquiry, inspection, and investigation than they currently receive.

[HankB]

. . . The lying, swindling, sleazy pieces of garbage that inhabit congress  . . .

Boy, you sure have a higher opinion of them than I do.