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Foley

Our call for Congress to come back into session and take a major step towards restoring ethical oversight over members' conduct is neither frivolous nor partisan. The Foley scandal is the logical consequence of a total lack of accountability and a culture that prizes winning elections above all else. To change the culture, we need to enact substantive reforms. An independent ethics commission for the first time in Congress's history would ensure that when a member of Congress or a congressional staffer does something that raises ethical concerns, there is a process in place for making sure that questions about misconduct are properly investigated. States like Florida and Kentucky have such commissions, and they work. We must make sure that the Foley scandal simply does not intensify our cynicism and anger about the people now in charge of the House. We must make sure that real change gets enacted. And it won't happen if we wait until the media and public outrage dies down. Reform is often forged in the heat of scandal. And that's why our call for Congress to reconvene makes sense and is the right thing to do.

by Celia Wexler on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 09:46:04 AM EST