Ethics?
“We don’t need no stinking ethics!” – Republican Congressional caucus.
GOP wanted to change the Office of Congressional Ethics:
The OCE should no longer be independent. Instead, it will be under the House’s Committee on Ethics, which is run by members of Congress.
The office will no longer be able to accept anonymous tips from whistleblowers.
The ethics office must stop any investigation if the House ethics committee tells them to.
The ethics office cannot investigate any tips of misconduct that took place before Jan. 3, 2011
The office can no longer talk about its findings — even hire a spokesperson.
OCE cannot investigate any criminal cases or turn allegations of corruption over to law enforcement.
The Congresscritters felt they were being treated unfairly by the OCE, telling people what the ‘Critters were doing. Members were facing primary challenges and losing elections, even if they weren’t convicted of crimes.
When people found out what the GOP caucus was attempting, there was sufficient outrage from the public to convince ‘Critters that they didn’t want to vote for the changes.
As per his pattern, Trump the Twit tweeted. He felt Congresscritters should be enacting the changes he wants before dealing with anything they might personally want. Note, he didn’t say the changes were a bad idea, only that his agenda should be the first priority.
January 4, 2017 6 Comments
