Overview
Scandals over the last two years have revealed a number of cases of
overt corruption. Former Congressmen Duke Cunningham (Calif.) and
Robert Ney (Ohio) were caught trading votes for campaign contributions
and other bribes. Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff landed in jail for
masterminding efforts using campaign contributions to steer public
funds to his pet projects. Rep. William Jefferson (La.) is under
investigation after the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer and
former Rep. Tom DeLay is still defending himself against corruption
charges. Several top legislative and White House aides have already
pled guilty to corruption charges and this may only be the tip of the
iceberg.
Enforcement is key. The current system is broken.
Overseeing one’s own colleagues is difficult under any circumstances,
but oversight in a partisan-charged environment like Congress is, as we
have now seen, impossible. This is not to say that members of Congress
are any less capable than others to self-police, no one self-polices
well. In the Executive Branch there is an Office of Government Ethics.
Businesses have outside auditors. Congress needs independent and
professional oversight and enforcement of the rules.
Several
proposals, such as the Office of Public Integrity put forth in the
House by Reps. Shays (Conn.) and Meehan (Mass.), or an independent
ethics commission as detailed in a bill by Reps. Castle (Del.) and
Platts (Penn.) create workable models of how such entities would
operate.
