"After months of anxiety and arm-twisting, the House has taken the boldest step yet toward ethics reform, creating an independent ethics office. The panel of six nonpartisan outsiders is empowered to field allegations against representatives, refer serious charges for investigation by the House ethics committee, and tell the public what is frivolous and what is not.
Members from both parties tried to scuttle the measure, but none tried harder than the Republican leaders. Speaker Nancy Pelosi stuck to the anticorruption agenda that helped win her the gavel. She dared the House to reject the measure in the face of voters’ widespread cynicism about Congressional corruption. The measure’s chief sponsor, Representative Michael Capuano, Democrat of Massachusetts, put the case bluntly: “The public does not trust us.”
The minority leader, John Boehner, an outspoken opponent, must help jointly choose the six blue-ribbon appointees or accept responsibility for opposing much-needed reform. Mr. Boehner calls this bipartisan task “a stretch.” Stretch he must, for hack appointees won’t do."
Get the Story:
Editorial: Kicking and Screaming Toward Reform (The New York Times 3/13)
pwnyt
Another Editorial:
Editorial: Striking A Blow For Ethics
(The Hartford Courant 3/13)
pwday
Other Stories:
Still seething over prolonged ethics vote, Boehner mulls stonewalling appointments (The Hill 3/13)
House Creates a Panel to Watch Over Lawmakers’ Behavior (The New York Times 3/12)
Ethics Reform Bill:
Establishing
within the House of Representatives an Office of Congressional Ethics
(H.J.Res 895)
Related Stories
Editorial: Vote for ethics reform on Capitol
Hill (2/28)
