Posted on 06/09/2010 10:42:21 AM PDT by jazusamo
Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) introduced legislation at the end of May, which was co-sponsored by 19 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The bill would restrict the Office of Congressional Ethics -- which is a bipartisan board staffed solely with private citizens -- from releasing the results of its investigations in cases that the House Ethics Committee decides have no merit. The OCE would also be barred from initiating investigations of its own, and would instead have to wait for a complaint to be filed by a citizen with intimate knowledge of the alleged malfeasance.
According the June 2 Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Last year, the Office of Congressional Ethics found that Fudge's chief of staff, Dawn Kelly Mobley, "improperly influenced" information that a group called Carib News Foundation provided to the House Ethics Committee. The Ethics Committee was trying to decide whether a yearly Caribbean trip the group sponsored for Congressional Black Caucus members violated a newly implemented ban on corporate-funded travel.
Its report found that Mobley gave "internal committee communications" to Carib News Foundation that helped it mislead the committee about the trip's corporate sponsorships. Mobley's actions occurred in 2007, while she was an ethics committee counsel to former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland, who then chaired the Ethics Committee and went on the trip. The report indicated Mobley acted at Tubbs Jones' direction. Tubbs Jones died in 2008, before the improprieties came to light.
The House Ethics Committee, also known as the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, is comprised of congressional members. It has the power to conduct investigations, subpoena witnesses, make official rulings and recommend penalties for lawmakers deemed guilty of ethical violations.
In comparison, the OCE only has the power to conduct investigations and refer cases to other boards or agencies for further examination.
The OCE has investigated at least eight members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and referred four cases to the House Ethics Committee, which dismissed all of them except one. That was the case of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who was admonished by the committee for accepting corporate-funded junkets. OCE acted on news reports resulting from NLPC's expose of a 2008 St. Maarten trip funded by Citigroup and other large corporations.
The Congressional Black Caucus says that transparent OCE investigations have unjustly damaged the reputation of lawmakers, and that new rules will make the process fairer.
"This proposal brings Congress in line with America's judicial system by creating a process truly free of politics, avoiding trials in the court of public opinion, and stopping the premature release of reports," said Fudge in a statement released last week.
Other ethics watchdogs are also concerned that the legislation could allow congressional members to escape prosecution for ethical violations.
"The main elements of her proposal are that only people with direct knowledge could file complaints, so that would mean groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] couldn't file complaints [and] they would be prohibited from initiating investigations without complaints," Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group CREW told Talking Points Memo.
LOL ... what did you expect a bunch of scoundrels to do.
CBC wants Gov’t run like some 3rd world country
Oh that will just make Charlie Rangle’s day won’t it?
The CBC should be abolished as the RACIST group that it is.
The MEMBERS of the CBC should be ASHAMED, and they should be removed from congress immediately for their racism. We should be calling for the removal of racists from congress, all of em, and that 100% includes every member of the CBC.
That would be a big fat NO to the request if they want any chance of survivng November.
Its report found that Mobley gave "internal committee communications" to Carib News Foundation that helped it mislead the committee about the trip's corporate sponsorships. Mobley's actions occurred in 2007, while she was an ethics committee counsel to former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland, who then chaired the Ethics Committee and went on the trip. The report indicated Mobley acted at Tubbs Jones' direction. Tubbs Jones died in 2008, before the improprieties came to light.
What's wrong with this picture?
Yep, I hope they keep making noise about it, just makes them look the corrupt bums that they are.
Ethics are a white male racist construct
Who controls and chairs the House Ethics Committee?
what I wonder is why do black Democrats see themselves as beyond the law ... with special privileges and perks.
We just can’t make stuff like that up, she and a lot more of them are brainless.
The Democrats loved skewering Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston in the "court of public opinion", but don't want the same scrutiny applied to their misdeeds. Tough. If you do the crime, you do the time. That includes taking the heat of bad press as your misdeeds are revealed.
Zoe Lofgren is chair and Jo Bonner is ranking Repub.
“multiple members of the caucus have come under investigation by the board over the past year.”
Clear cut case of racism and profiling. /sarc
Turning our whole country into Detroit, one freezer full of cash at a time.
Why are they frightened.???????
Because they are GUILTY.
CBC Klan with a tan.
A pack of racist blacks who are using their race to get elected and living like Kings and Queens .
I dunno. I think they suffer from low self esteem.
Blacks cannot commit ethics violations.
Must. . .not. . . .must. . .not. . .say. . .it. . .must. . .not
:x
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