Statement of Janet S.
Domenitz
Executive Director,
MASSPIRG
The U.S. House
of Representatives voted yesterday to establish an independent Office of
Congressional Ethics.
This vote
was about going beyond the easy rhetoric of reform and taking a concrete step
to correct what has been a dysfunctional ethics process. We now have an
opportunity to get past the recent failures of the House to ensure honest
representation on behalf of the American people. It represents a
meaningful step toward fixing the broken and discredited ethics enforcement
process.
The problem
of ethics enforcement in Congress cannot be fixed by simply calling upon the
party leaders to ‘expect it to work’ as was suggested during the floor debate.
The existing system is fatally flawed. The public has long since lost faith in
the integrity of the institution. The creation of the new and independent
Office of Congressional Ethics strikes at the status quo and establishes an
independent and open process that will lead to greater accountability.
The House
leadership made good on their commitments to the public to aggressively work
for changes that will rein in the ethical abuses we have witnessed in the past
few years. MASSPIRG applauds all of those who voted in support of new ethics
enforcement. We especially recognize the extraordinary efforts of Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Task Force Chairman and bill sponsor Congressman Michael
Capuano of Somerville,
both of whom fought tirelessly to ensure meaningful reform.
