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| Politics Forum Index » Democrats (House) Politics Forum » Secrecy and accountability. House Ethics Committee is... |
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| Leroy N. Soetoro... |
 Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:01 pm |
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Guest
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Watch and see how stupid Californians are. The'll vote that criminal
cunt Pelosi right back into office.
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20091103/ARTICLES/911031005/1128/OPINION
?Title=Secrecy-and-accountability
Suppose Major League Baseball devised a new way to handle steroid use in
the sport: Any report or positive test would be referred to a committee
of players, who would investigate in secret and have complete authority
to decide whether the player is punished. Would that give fans
confidence the game is untainted by drugs?
Of course not.
So why does Congress operate under an identical system? Any ethical
allegation against a member of Congress is referred to the House or
Senate Ethics Committee. This committee investigates in secret and then
decides whether the member is punished.
The constituents of a representative or senator may never find out the
politician was investigated or punished. The committees can hand down a
private reprimand.
Citizens and watchdog groups have always had problems with this system,
and for good reason. You can't clean out a corrupt organization by
asking it to police itself.
Last week, a document was mistakenly released that gives Americans a
rare glimpse into the workings of the House Ethics Committee. A
committee staff member took the file home and put it on a computer that
was hooked up to a file-sharing system, allowing it to be copied by
others. The staffer has been fired.
In one sense, the news is good. The document shows that the committee is
busy. It shows that many House members ask the committee questions about
possible activity and trips they have planned, making sure they abide by
the rules. It also shows that the committee is investigating more
colleagues than previously estimated.
The House Ethics Committee is evaluating the activities of at least 19
U.S. representatives. It is reviewing their home mortgages. It is
examining the arrangements for them to travel to Caribbean resorts.
But what will come of it? We may never know.
That's the problem. What we can see is inaction. Rep. Charles B. Rangel,
D-N.Y., is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He has been
investigated for failure to pay taxes, inappropriate use of House
resources and taking corporate-paid trips. The committee has been
investigating Rangel for over a year, but he hasn't even been asked to
give up his powerful chairmanship.
Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., has been under investigation for the way he
steered millions in earmarks to defense contractors who donated
generously to his campaigns and employed his brother and nephew, but he
hasn't been asked to give up chairmanship of the House Defense
Appropriations subcommittee, which handles billions in federal money.
It's good to know the House Ethics Committee is looking into the
activities of its colleagues, but it would be better to know it will
actually do something about it. Americans can only have that confidence
when the secrecy surrounding these investigations is ended. Until then,
we will have to depend on inept committee staffers who forget about
computer security.
--
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
Rangel's tax evasion. |
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