Is House ethics reform real?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was emphatic and vague at the same time when asked by reporters whether her Democratic majority and the Republicans will come up with an enforcement mechanism for what she says are the strongest ethics reforms in modern history.
"We will have an enforcement" procedure before the current session of Congress adjourns, scheduled for Nov. 16, she said Tuesday at a luncheon briefing for national political reporters.
But when asked whether the enforcement entity will have an outside counsel, with independent authority, Pelosi flashed a cold smile and said, "you'll have to come to one of my daily briefings and find out."
For months Pelosi has been promising that she will get a report from a bipartisan task force on ethics enforcement.
Last week one of Washington's reform groups, the Campaign Legal Center, e-mailed to journalists a taunt on Pelosi's inability to produce a task force report.
Meredith McGehee, spokeswoman for the center, said Oct. 1 marked "the four-month anniversary of the missed May 1 deadline for the recommendation of the House Ethics Enforcement Task Force appointed by Speaker Pelosi in January and led by Chairman Michael Capuano, D-Mass., and Ranking Member LaMar Smith, R-Texas.
"If you see any of them around Capitol Hill ask about how they plan to celebrate the occassion, Cake, anyone?"
At Tuesday's luncheon, Pelosi distributed a press release touting "remarkable progress" made by the new Democratic House majority. Fourth from the top of the list of achievements was "landmark lobby and ethics reform."
In addition to failing to push for an outside enforcement agency, the Democrats have left in force a rule that says only a sitting member of the House can bring charges against another. The Senate will consider charges brought by outsiders.
--Douglas Turner
