Democrats created the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2008, after three different members of the House were convicted on bribery-related charges and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff put bribery at the center of his thriving business. In 2017, House Republicans held a secret vote taking the ethics—and the independence—out of the Office of Congressional Ethics. Instead, they’re creating an Office of Congressional Complaint Review—no ethics needed. The name isn’t the only thing that’ll be different:
The Office of Congressional Ethics, which is overseen by a six-member outside board, does not have subpoena power. But it has its own staff of investigators who spend weeks conducting confidential interviews and collecting documents based on complaints they receive from the public, or news media reports, before issuing findings that detail any possible violation of federal rules or laws. The board then votes on whether to refer the matter to the full House Ethics Committee, which conducts its own review.
But the House Ethics Committee, even if it dismisses the potential ethics violation as unfounded, is required to release the Office of Congressional Ethics report detailing the alleged wrongdoing, creating a deterrent to such questionable behavior by lawmakers.
Under the new arrangement, the Office of Congressional Complaint Review could not take anonymous complaints, and all of its investigations would be overseen by the House Ethics Committee itself, which is made up of lawmakers who answer to their own party.
In short, it’s open season for Republicans who have until now been scared away from corruption by the existence of a real congressional ethics board. Facing a Republican-controlled House Ethics Committee, Democrats will still need to be careful, but Republicans policing themselves? Ha, no. That’s not going to happen, except possibly as a tool in a battle for ideological control of their party. And even then, attacking each other for run-of-the-mill corruption will probably be seen as a dirty play.
Welcome to the age of corruption.