If one needed a visual clue demonstrating how much clout and respect the House Ethics Committee has, you had only to have been standing today in the basement of the Capitol in a cramped, overheated hallway outside a plain doorway leading to the Ethics Committee's drab digs.  For too many years, the Ethics Committee has been the stepchild of House committees - its mission to investigate complaints about Members' and staff's alleged ethical misconduct, and to help members interpret the ethics rules.  This is the one committee members don't lobby to get named to - no political contributions come your way and there's little prestige to serving on it.  And nobody wants to judge his peers.

To say the Ethics Committee has lurched between moribund and ineffective over the past years is to be charitable.  But today, as the Foley page scandal continued to explode on the nation's front pages, the Committee drew new glamour and importance.  A flank of photographers and reporters crowded around waiting as each Committee member made his or her way through the closed door.  Like paparazzi running after a fleeting glimpse of Oscar attendees, the capitol press photographers exploded with clicks and flashes whenever a Committee member strode by.

The Constitution puts faith in the Congress, trusting Congressmen to police themselves. Unfortunately, Congressmen have shown time and time again that that's something they are unwilling or unable to do. The investigation of Mark Foley's pedophilia will not be any different unless the House establishes an independent ethics commission to serve this constitutionally mandated role. Reports that there was a cover-up of Foley's habits are already circulating. To top it off, Dennis Hastert (R- IL) has personally handpicked members of the current Ethics Committee. This committee has not and obviously will not investigate anything thoroughly and seriously. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) recognizes this, and is calling for an independent ethics commission.

We've been saying Congress can't police its own ethics. And we've got a petition telling Congress to come back, make information on what happened public and set up an independent ethics commission.

Here's another twist on policing themselves. Jonathan Turley, a well-know law prof here in DC, writes in the WaPo of his own experience as a page and proposes getting members of Congress out of the business of overseeing them.

As you read his column, about his own experiences and other page-related scandals, you see that this is another arena where Congress has failed to police itself, to keep its own House in order. Over many years and with different parties in charge. Here's part of what he says:

How come if you looked on the Speaker's web site today you see him bragging about passing the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, while he himself has spectacularly failed to protect the Pages working in the Capitol Building and under his protection from a Member of Congress under his control? "At home we put children first, and Republicans are doing just that in the House" his web site says, " We have all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our borders from terrorists." The Speaker concludes.

I am sure many of you are as stunned, saddened and angry over the recent revelations that Representative Mark Foley engaged in possibly criminal behavior with minors serving as "pages" in Congress.  This scandal hits close to home for me. In 1993, my daughter Hannah was a page in the Senate. I sent her to Washington and I expected her to be safe and free from harassment. Thousands of other parents have done the same.

This incident raises a number of troubling questions that demand answers from a scandal-ridden Congress that doesn't like to answer questions. This is, after all, a Congress in which we've seen bribery, criminal convictions and former Members sit in jail. The House Ethics Committee has been inactive for the last two years.

And now this. The apparent cover up by House leaders of a Member of Congress who was sexually exploiting children is proof that the House is unable and incapable of policing itself, and that the system of peer review must be changed.

That's why Common Cause is calling on the House of Representatives to return to Washington DC before Election Day on Nov. 7 to establish an outside ethics commission to provide ethics oversight and enforcement of a body that has proven now beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is incapable of policing itself.

We also want House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-NY) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) to hold a public hearing and make public all information and all documents in their possession regarding the handling of Foley's sexually explicit e-mails.

We believe this is too serious an issue to wait until after the election. The House must reconvene before Election Day because the public has a right to know where every House Member who is up for re-election stands on their willingness to be held accountable.

You probably know that such a session of Congress would not be unprecedented. As recently as last year, Congress returned to Washington during its Easter Recess to consider the fate of Terri Schiavo.

Go here to sign our petition and tell Speaker Hastert to bring the House back.