ethics

At The Witherspoon Institute, a think tank founded by Princeton Professor Robert P. George and devoted to discussing ethics in the public square, Public Discourse editor Ryan T. Anderson kicks off a new series of essays designed to inform the discussion of the upcoming presidential election:

Jennifer Rubin: "The Senate adviser told me, 'I think a bunch of Republicans are buying into the Gang of Six talking points too quickly.' He predicted, 'I think most will scurry as soon as the real bill is written and all the promises prove false.'”

The American: "The Gang of Six Punts on Cuts in Farm Bill Subsidies"

The Washington Post reports that some Federal Deposit Insurance Commission officials cried foul back in 2008 when Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters of California allegedly sought special treatment for a bank run by a close friend. According to internal emails obtained by the Post, one FDIC bank examiner called the situation a "travesty of justice":

Bureaucrats, like all of us, love cupcakes. But is it always appropriate for them to accept cupcakes, especially when the gift-givers clearly want to curry favor? The notion that someone could sway millions – and perhaps billions – of dollars worth of business in their favor simply by delivering a bunch of cupcakes to bureaucrats might seem preposterous, but that’s exactly what happened last December.

Elections have consequences, and in Alabama the consequences have come quickly and decisively.

Attorney General Holder apparently only selectively follows ethical rules governing what prosecutors can say about pending criminal investigations. Compare his comments on the Sestak scandal and the BP oil spill, only three weeks apart:

The Hill reports:

Lawmakers living at the C Street House are violating congressional gift rules, a watchdog charged Thursday.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint Thursday with the Senate Ethics Committee and the House Office of Congressional Ethics, charging members residing at C Street with paying below-market rent.

The complaint lists Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) as well as Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) as allegedly receiving improper housing benefits.

One neglected issue in the controversy over the revelation that there are at least nine (or ten, if you count Attorney General Eric Holder) Justice Department lawyers who represented, or filed briefs in support of, Guantanamo detainees is whether those lawyers are complying with applicable ethics rules--and whether those rules are being applied evenly.

The two basic ethics rules are (a) the “inward” revolving door ban found in President Obama’s executive order imposing ethics obligations on his administration’s appointees and (b) the conflict of interest rules found in codes of professional conduct defining lawyers’ duties to clients. 

The Washington Post reports that the House Ethics committee will close its ethics investigation into Eric Massa:

The committee concluded that Massa's resignation put him outside the reach of any punishment the committee could dole out, and would render any findings of wrongdoing irrelevant. But the move appears likely to set up a political battle with House Republicans, who are already complaining in campaign ads that Congressional Democrats are unwilling to look too deeply into or punish the ethical transgressions of their own.

While the committee traditionally loses jurisdiction over a member when that member resigns, that's not the case when the allegations involve someone else working for Congress. For example, in 2006, Republican Mark Foley resigned on September 28, and the House Ethics committee didn't release its report until December 8.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) said Monday morning he will resign from Congress to “devote my full energies to the campaign for governor.”

Deal is one of seven Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor. He will resign from the U.S. House on March 8.

Deal, whose departure apparently voids a U.S. House ethics investigation into his business dealing with the state, announced his resignation at the Gainesville Civic Center before a crowd of about 100 supporters, who applauded his remarks.

“This is not a time for untested leadership in the governor’s office,” Deal said. “The economic future of our state is in peril.”

Deal's retirement (along with John Murtha's death and the retirements of Robert Wexler and Neil Abercrombie) will make 216 the new number for a majority in the House.