The newly created Office of Congressional Ethics has been quiet, but busy.
The group, made up of outsiders appointed by Congress, issued a report Tuesday outlining its activities since it formed in January, and it disclosed the news that it is conducting 10 “preliminary reviews” of possible ethics violations by House members (the Senate does not fall under its jurisdiction).
According to the report, six “second-phase” reviews concerning House lawmakers are also underway. This is a more serious investigatory stage that could result in a formal investigation by the House ethics committee, which is made up of five Republican and five Democratic lawmakers and generally avoids investigating much of anything. The House ethics committee has the power to recommend punishment, including expulsion, if a member is found in violation of the House ethics rules.
The OCE was formed in the last Congress after members and watchdog groups complained about the lack of activity in the ethics committee’s basement offices. Only one member has filed an ethics complaint in nearly 15 years, which some blame on an unofficial ethics ceasefire between the two parties.
Unlike the official House ethics committee, which can only field complaints from members, the OCE can investigate complaints from anyone, even though it has no teeth to enforce anything, just to investigate and report its findings to the House.
Wednesday’s report revealed that 37 “private citizens” contacted the OCE, some requesting information and others alleging misconduct by a House member. The panel reviewed the allegations that included “a reasonable basis that a violation occurred,” according to the report.
The committee will meet again in the coming weeks to decide whether to refer any of the six “second-phase” reviews to the ethics committee and only then will the information be made public, “after a designated period of time.”
When members voted last year to create the office, they first made sure there names would not be disclosed unless the actual House ethics committee took on an investigation. Members feared politically motivated allegations by the public.
