House leadership must act now to bring meaningful ethics reform legislation to the floor
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today called on the Democratic Party leadership to waste no time in moving forward with meaningful ethics reform by creating an independent commission to investigate members of Congress accused of ethics violations.
“The American people deserve nothing less than a government that is fully accountable and completely transparent,” the Tucson lawmaker said. “They need to know that their elected representatives are focused on the public interest, not the special interests and not the lobbyists’ interests.”
Giffords and 19 fellow freshman lawmakers, including Rep. Harry Mitchell of Tempe, urged House leaders to take up ethics reform legislation at a Capitol Hill press conference earlier today.
Giffords wants an independent commission to work in conjunction with the House Ethics Committee to investigate members of Congress who violate ethics rules. The congresswoman wants the commission to have the power to receive, vet, investigate and refer ethics complaints to Congress.
Twenty-seven freshmen lawmakers, including Giffords, recently signed a letter to Rep. Mike Capuano, chairman of the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement, to insist on greater independence in House ethics enforcement. That letter is attached.
“The current ethics enforcement process is nothing more than the fox guarding the henhouse,” said Giffords. “House leadership must do the right thing and give members a chance to vote on meaningful ethics reform legislation.”
Giffords also is one of 11 House members - and one of only five freshmen - co-sponsoring legislation to mandate the disclosure of “bundled” political contributions. Several ethics experts and organizations consider this to be the defining issue of any lobbying reform legislation. Text of the legislation, H.R. 633, can be found online at http://www.congress.gov/.