Ethics Orgy in Congress

The Glenn Fellows had a thorough briefing last week on Congressional ethics, delivered by an expert on the subject, Ted Van Der Meid. It was just in the nick of time, as it turns out.





"Dozens in Congress Under Inquiry," the lead story in yesterday's Post read. It seems that a low-level staffer--let us hope it was not an intern--was responsible for a breach of security that allowed public access to a secret report of the House Ethics Committee. Anyone who knows anything about how Washington, D.C., works knew what would happen next: the staffer in question was fired. Yes, the low-level Munchkin is toast, dead meat, roadkill. The republic is once again secure.





An accompanying story, "Seven on Defense Panel Scrutinized," focused on the practice of "earmarking" and how it has comprimised members of the House Appropriations Committee, the subject of last week's speaker, OSU alumna Christine Kontra, an aide in the office of Rep. Steve La Tourette (R-Ohio). According to the Post, both the House Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Ethics are looking into questionable activities involving PMA, a lobbying firm with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa) and other appropriators, including Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). The revelation is regrettable, because most ethics inquiries result in exoneration--or gentle wrist-slaps, at most. That's why they're supposed to be kept confidential. Thanks to the leak, seven House members, deservingly or not, have had their reputations besmirched.

The pity, as Ms. Kontra explained at our policy salon, is that one legislator's "pork" is another legislator's "bacon," which is why earmarking is not likely to go away any time soon. And if we are to consider Congress a "broken branch," we should recognize that it has been in that state for a very long time. Could it be that we have simply become a lot more squeamish over time?

November 2 update: While we're on the subject of corruption and Congress, you might find this Timothy Noah piece (from Slate, May 24, 2005) arguing for abolition of the Senate filibuster an interesting take on everybody's favorite Frank Capra film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

November 6 update: The Hill reports that Marcy Kaptur is fighting back.