D.C. Councilwoman Muriel Bowser’s proposal to create a separate ethics and government accountability commission, invested with sweeping powers including investigating and prosecuting violations, if approved, would be a major step toward restoring the public’s confidence in government. She has scheduled for Wednesday a hearing on ethics legislation, including her own and ideas proffered by her colleagues. The Ward 4 legislator and head of the Committee on Government Operations, told me Monday she would create the new commission by separating ethics responsibility from the current Board of Elections & Ethics and rolling in the office of open government. “We don’t just want to move the boxes,” she continued. “We want to have a professional staffer empowered to enforce, investigate and prosecute.
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