Delayed appointments could curb House ethics probes

USA Today

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WASHINGTON -- An independent office created four years ago to police congressional behavior will lose its investigative powers unless House leaders move quickly to name new board members -- the latest potential threat to the watchdog office.

The terms of four of the six members of the Office of Congressional Ethics' board are set to expire when the new Congress convenes in January. Neither House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, nor Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California has announced their replacements -- despite mounting pressure from outside congressional watchdogs to retain the office's powers. The office's investigators cannot start probes without board approval.

"What a beautiful way for Congress to kill the program without going on record as actually having done so," said Craig Holman of Public Citizen, one of seven watchdog groups planning a public campaign next week to push for action.

In an e-mail, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said Democrats are "firmly committed" to the ethics office and "replacements will be named at the appropriate time."

Aides to Boehner did not return e-mails and telephone calls this week from USA TODAY, and Holman said his repeated entreaties to Boehner's staff have been ignored.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, or OCE, is the first independent group to oversee ethics in the U.S. House of Representatives and was established during Pelosi's tenure as House speaker. The goal: to clean up what Pelosi called Washington's "culture of corruption" in the aftermath of the scandal surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (In 2006, Abramoff admitted providing gifts to lawmakers and aides in exchange for official actions. He went to prison for his actions.)

The questions about OCE's future come amid frantic negotiations by top Washington officials to avert a "fiscal cliff" of massive spending cuts and automatic tax increases. Outside advocates, such as Holman, worry the office could die quietly during the fiscal debate.

The office has been unpopular with some lawmakers. Boehner, who kept the office intact when he assumed the speakership in 2011, was among the 182 House members who voted against creating it. Last year, North Carolina Democrat Mel Watt led an unsuccessful effort to slash 40% of OCE's $1.5 million annual budget, saying its work duplicates activities the ethics committee should handle. Watt, who had been the target of an OCE investigation that was later dismissed by the office, argued the money would be better spent on deficit reduction.

In 2010, 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus unsuccessfully sought to restrict the OCE's power to launch probes and publicly release its findings.

"Nobody likes to lose control over their own careers, lives and reputations," said Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. "There's always resistance to an independent operation." Ornstein, a longtime congressional scholar, advocated the OCE's creation and called its current status "more precarious than I would like."

Since its inception in 2008, the OCE has launched 101 investigations of lawmakers and their aides and recommended that the House Ethics Committee - made up of 10 Republican and Democratic House members - take further action in 35 cases. Only a handful, including a probe into corporate-sponsored travel to the Caribbean by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., have resulted in formal disciplinary action. No independent ethics office exists in the Senate.

The results of OCE investigations are publicly released - even when lawmakers on the ethics committee are still weighing final action or opt to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing. The reports have proved politically damaging, and the office's critics argue it unfairly tarnishes reputations.

A 300-page, OCE report released last year found "probable cause" that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., had directed a supporter to raise money in 2008 for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for appointing Jackson to the Senate seat vacated by President Obama. Jackson, who has been treated for bipolar disorder, resigned from the House last month amid the ethics probe and a separate criminal inquiry into the use of campaign funds.

OCE officials declined to comment on the board appointments.

In an e-mail, Omar Ashmawy, a former U.S. Air Force judge advocate general who heads the OCE staff, praised the House for creating the office. "The last four years has shown the process they put in place works," he said.

USA Today