ETHICS

An Exercise in Unaccountability

Exit polls from this past midterm election revealed that voters saw corruption and ethics in government as the issues most important to their vote. For many voters, this fall's scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL) predatory behavior with young House pages -- and just as importantly, the House leadership's cover-up of Foley's actions -- served as a stark metaphor for a Congress that had lost its moral compass. At the time, then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) offered a resolution seeking an immediate investigation into the scandal. The resolution was blocked by then-Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), "who instead wanted to refer the matter to the ethics committee" to determine whether an investigation was necessary. Then-Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) charged a four-person House ethics subcommittee, headed by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), with looking into the "conduct of House members, officers and staff related to information concerning improper conduct involving members and current and former pages." Last Friday, the ethics panel reported that, while conservative lawmakers and aides "failed for a decade to protect male pages from sexual come-ons by Foley," they broke no rules and should not be punished. The New York Times called the report "a 91-page exercise in cowardice." The outcome was hardly shocking given that, before the investigation began, the hand-picked chairman of the panel prematurely declared that Hastert had done an "excellent job." For a 109th Congress that turned a blind eye to ethical scandals surrounding former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Jack Abramoff, former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), and former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) among others, the unwillingness to exert accountability over its own members underscores why the voters demanded a change and why that change was necessary.

TOOTHLESS DISAPPOINTMENT: The 91-page report "harshly criticized Hastert, saying the evidence showed he was told of the problem months before he acknowledged learning of Foley's questionable e-mails to a former Louisiana page. It rejected Hastert's contention that he couldn't recall separate warnings from two House Republican leaders." And yet, Hastert came away pleased with the committee's report because it found "there was no violation of any House rules by any member or staff." The report found that House leaders were "negligent," showed a "disconcerting unwillingness to take responsibility," and "failed to exercise appropriate diligence and oversight." One aide even warned that Foley was a "ticking time bomb." But no sanctions or reprimands were issued. The report also noted that “political considerations played a role” in some of the decisions made by lawmakers or their aides after learning about Foley’s contacts with former pages, underscoring the fact that the leadership viewed the Foley scandal not as an ethical problem but as a political one. The report warned, “The failure to exhaust all reasonable efforts to call attention to potential misconduct involving a Member and House page is not merely the exercise of poor judgment; it is a present danger to House pages and to the integrity of the institution of the House.” But despite being given an opportunity to act against this current threat, the ethics committee showed a "disconcerting unwillingness" to respond.

MORE WORK TO BE DONE: Mark Foley is now retired from Congress. Hastert, Boehner, Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), and the other members who became aware of Foley's conduct have been stripped of their majority power. But Congress is still not yet entirely clean of its ethical troubles. On Saturday, Louisiana voters chose to send Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) back to Congress for a ninth term, despite the fact that he is currently under a federal investigation for bribery. Last May, the FBI unsealed documents that alleged Jefferson accepted bribes to help iGate, a small technology company, "win contracts with federal agencies and with businesses and governments in West Africa." During a search of Jefferson's home this summer, the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer, "concealed in $10,000 increments inside various frozen food containers and wrapped in aluminum foil." Pelosi, the incoming Speaker, led a successful effort last spring to strip Jefferson of his slot on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Despite his recent win, "Jefferson's problems are far from over. The federal corruption probe, which became public on March 15, 2005, continues, and the congressman has all but said he expects an indictment."

HOUSE CLEANING: Recognizing there is much work to be done, Pelosi -- who has promised to "drain the swamp" of corruption -- has laid out an agenda to clean up Congress, "starting with an immediate ban on gifts, meals and travel paid for by lobbyists." The ethics debate will be the first item on the "100 hours" agenda when Congress convenes on Jan. 4. Pelosi's agenda includes a broad range of proposals to ban all House-Senate conference committees from meeting in private; it puts an end to anonymous "earmarks," with which members secretly fund their pet projects; it doubles the amount of time ex-lawmakers must wait before they can lobby Congress; and it returns to "pay-as-you-go" budget rules that would force members to suggest a way to pay for any new spending before it could be approved. The American public will be watching and counting on Pelosi to follow-through on her bold pledge.