Since its inception, the United States Congress has been solely responsible for creating and enforcing its own code of ethics for the behavior of its members. In light of the recent resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida), amid allegations that he exchanged sexually explicit emails with under-age male congressional pages, the question arises, should Congress continue to police itself?
The fact that Rep. Foley had served as co-chairman of Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and had been a vocal backer of legislation intended to fight child pornography and online sexual predators, his resignation proved especially embarrassing to congressional leaders. Now, as evidence begins to surface that some of Foley’s colleagues in the House may have known about, and concealed his elicit actions, perhaps consideration should be given to the creation of an independent outside commission, similar to the Federal Elections Commission, to oversee and enforce congressional ethics.
In a recent press release, Common Cause President Chellie Pingree called the Foley scandal “the last straw,” and stated, "In this Congress we've seen bribery, convictions and former Members sit in jail. But the apparent cover up by House leaders of a Member of Congress who was sexually exploiting children is proof that the House is unable and incapable of policing itself, and that the system of peer review must be changed."
Bill would create independent ethics commission
One bill already before Congress, HR 4920 – the Accountability and Transparency in Ethics Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael Castle (R - Delaware), would create, as an independent ethics commission, the Investigations Commission to investigate and report any alleged violation of law, rule, regulation, or other applicable standard of conduct by a Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives.
In addition, the bill would empower the independent Investigations Commission to report any evidence of the violation of any law by a Member, officer, or employee of the House to appropriate law enforcement agencies.
HR 4920 would also require mandatory annual ethics training for Members and House employees.
"If there was ever a moment of realization as to how unwilling and incapable Congress is of policing itself, it is now," Common Cause President Pingree added. "Americans are understandably outraged. The House must act immediately in order to restore public confidence."
Current ethics oversight
Currently, ethics for Members of the House is spelled out in the House Code of Official Conduct and it is left to the Members and House leadership to interpret and enforce the Code of Conduct. All government employees are covered by the Code of Ethics for U.S. Government Service and ethical conduct within the Executive Branch is under the oversight of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). In the Senate, members follow the much more voluminous Senate Ethics Manual (.pdf).
