D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown introduced sweeping ethics reform legislation on Tuesday that would create an accountability office tasked with investigating and penalizing city employees and council members for ethical breaches. Ethics reform was a key component of Brown’s campaign platform, but it appeared Brown didn’t have support for the initiative during a council retreat in January.

Much has changed since then. Brown himself has been caught asking taxpayers to foot the bill for a “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigator, his campaign finances have been questioned by an audit, and Mayor Vincent Gray has become the subject of two federal investigations into his campaign and hiring practices. City leaders — D.C. Council members among them — have been left to remake their image in the public’s eye, and Brown’s ethics bill gives them the chance to do that.