Cross posted from The Hill.

Believe it or not, leadership of both parties was able to find people willing to sit on the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Although we would have preferred that fewer than half the nominees be former members, this is another step toward finally having an independent body involved in investigating ethics complaints in the House. Hopefully, the appointees can make the OCE into an effective investigative body free from partisanship.


Ethics complaints in Congress were at one time used as political weapons. Then we had the ethics truce. The idea behind the OCE is that it will finally allow ethics complaints to be taken seriously by individuals who aren't in some way connected with the accused. At the time of its passage, Common Cause noted that the success of the new office depended entirely on the appointment of individuals who would aspire to being as non-partisan and objective as possible. Hopefully, these distinguished nominees will fulfill that goal in their service on the OCE.


Unfortunately, the Senate chose not to create a similar body in that chamber, even though the Senate Ethics Committee has hardly been any better at investigating possible misconduct of its members. As we have said before, unethical behavior does not have to rise to the level of illegal behavior. Nevertheless, Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on seven criminal counts of possible corruption in a case that has been in the news for some time. Yet, the Senate Ethics Committee hasn't weighed in on any of that. Hopefully the OCE will be a more proactive than the Ethics Committees in the House and Senate have been so that it doesn't take a criminal indictment to get its attention.