The so-called comprehensive ethics reform legislation introduced last month by D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown and Chairman Pro Tempore Mary Cheh, and subsequent proposals by Councilmen Vincent Orange and Tommy Wells, are all problematic in their current form. Passage of any acceptable bill won’t happen until after summer recess. Legislators still can immediately affect the quality of Democracy and the ethics environment in the city: They can demand Mayor Vincent C. Gray make the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics whole.

Currently, the panel that certifies elections and often is the final voice in cases involving campaign finance and other ethics violations doesn’t have the mandatory three members. The seat the Home Rule Charter requires be filled by a member of a minority political party has remained vacant for more than a year. That has meant an absolute rule of the political process by the Democratic Party.