After nearly two years, the D.C. Council appears poised to deliver comprehensive ethics reform. A roundtable to discuss draft legislation has been scheduled for Wednesday. The Committee on Government Operations, headed by Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, has deftly merged several different proposals into a single strong bill that could be a blunt force against bad-behaving officials, including the mayor, legislators, and advisory neighborhood commissioners. The legislation doesn’t simply respond to the shenanigans and corruption displayed this past year. It also anticipates future misdeeds and provides residents an opportunity to kick the bums out sooner — not later. Let’s shout hallelujah.
“It’s a serious effort to restore the public’s trust,” Bowser said about the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Establishment and Ethics Reform Amendment Act of 2011.
