Blog | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Sudden converts on earmark reform

Matt Jacob — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:03:58 -0500

On Wednesday, 10 House Republicans released a joint statement declaring their intention to ban earmarks because they represent "a broken Washington." Yet, according to the group Media Matters, 8 of these 10 Republicans have requested nearly $245 million in earmarks since 2008.

Click here and scroll to the bottom to read the list of GOP lawmakers and the amounts of their earmarks.

Although we're pleased to hear these GOP members of Congress commit themselves to earmark reform, it's clear that they have been a part of the problem. It sure would have been nice to see both parties confront the earmark problem before. But better late than never.

Corruption and misery in northern Ohio

Matt Jacob — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:39:40 -0500

Forbes magazine has released its 3rd annual list of America's 20 most miserable cities. Cleveland tops the list, and three other northern Ohio cities also made this infamous list: Canton, Youngstown and Akron. A variety of factors contribute to a city's quality, and one of them is corruption. Perhaps it's no coincidence that, as Forbes notes:

Northern Ohio has seen 309 public officials convicted of crimes over the past 10 years according to the Justice Department.

A current FBI investigation of public officials in Cuyahoga County (where Cleveland is located) has ensnared more than two dozen government employees and businessmen on charges including bribery, fraud and tax evasion.

Status of Massa investigation is unclear

Matt Jacob — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:14:21 -0500

By a 402-1 vote, the House ethics committee was urged to continue its investigation of Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), even though the congressman has resigned. But did the committee ever hang up its cleats?

That depends on whom you talk to. Some media reports declared the Massa investigation over. But Politico quoted a senior Democratic aide who insisted that the committee had never ended its probe into Massa's alleged misbehavior.

Rep. Massa resigned earlier this week amid charges of having improper physical contact with at least four aides. The congressman acknowledged behaving inappropriately, but he insisted that there was nothing sexual about the contact.

The scandal that Sen. Ensign cannot shake

Matt Jacob — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:32:43 -0500

If Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) believed the ethical cloud above him would dissipate, events have proven him wrong. Yesterday's New York Times reported:

Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles.

... [The e-mails] appear to undercut the senator’s assertion that he did not know the work might involve Congressional lobbying, which could violate a federal ban on such activities by staff members for a year after leaving government.

This news has prompted media in Sen. Ensign's home state to renew their examination of the scandal. Yesterday, the CBS-TV affiliate in Las Vegas provided this report (click on video at top right). In this TV story, CREW's Melanie Sloan calls the email messages "further evidence" that Sen. Ensign was engaged in activity that is "completely against the law."

Former Murtha aide asks ethics panel to release documents

Matt Jacob — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:39:09 -0500

Mark Critz, a former staffer to the late Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), has asked an ethics panel to release transcripts of interviews conducted with him when the panel was probing earmarks by Murtha.

Critz's request of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) follows concerns raised by a political rival about Critz's role in those earmarks. The rival, former state Treasurer Barbara Hafer, has since dropped out of the race to fill the House seat that Murtha's death left vacant.

According to Roll Call:

The OCE report, which concluded that Murtha did not take campaign donations into account when providing earmarks for PMA clients, included summaries of interviews with Murtha and several staff members, but Critz’s interview was not included.

Critz’s request is apparently the first of its kind for the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was established in March 2008, and it is not clear whether the subject of an OCE investigation can request the release of documents.

Rep. Speier's positive step to address earmark abuse

crewstaff — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:16:04 -0500

On Tuesday, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) submitted H. Res. 1147, a resolution that would amend the Rules of the House of Representatives to require members to hold public meetings -- after advance public notice -- to explain earmark requests they intend to submit and to provide a forum for constituent participation.

Rep. Speier’s proposal would advance government accountability by breaking the link between earmarks and campaign contributions, a link forged by the secrecy that typically accompanies earmarks.

CREW applauds Rep. Speier’s efforts to bring transparency to Congress, acting on the well proven adage that sunlight truly is the best disinfectant.

BREAKING: Good news for earmark reform

Matt Jacob — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:32:01 -0500

In response to news today that the House Democratic Caucus has decided to ban earmarks, CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan issued this statement:

“CREW applauds House Democrats for finally recognizing that the American public is tired of watching members of Congress trade earmarks for campaign contributions. This is a terrific first step in breaking the link between campaign dollars and legislation.

“It is ironic, of course, that this action follows so close on the heels of the House Ethics Committee’s PMA report, which found no link between contributions and earmarks, but then again no one really believed that anyway.”

According to the Washington Post, Democratic leaders announced the earmark ban at a meeting of the party's caucus. The Post reports that the new rule "forbids private contractors from receiving earmarks."

Rep. David Obey (D-WI), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, has estimated that the 2010 federal budget for this fiscal year included more than 1,000 earmarks to private companies. Most of these earmarks were part of the Pentagon's annual budget.

Earmark reform: for real or is it just more talk?

Matt Jacob — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:43:23 -0500

According to the Washington Post:

(House) Democrats are pushing for a new rule that would most likely forbid earmarked expenditures to private, for-profit contractors for at least one year. Such businesses reap billions annually in federal grants directed their way by individual lawmakers, particularly from the Pentagon's budget.

House leaders emerged from a meeting Tuesday in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ready to push earmark reform as one way to rebut charges that they have been soft on ethics issues.

... According to senior aides familiar with the internal discussions, Pelosi's leadership team has considered calling for a one-year moratorium on all earmarks ...

But the more likely decision, aides said, would be to ask rank-and-file lawmakers to accept a one-year ban on earmarks distributed to for-profit companies ...

Talk is cheap. We'll have to see whether House Democrats are truly committed to bringing this earmark reform proposal to the floor for a vote. And we'll also be looking at how Republicans respond to this issue -- an issue that should be seen as non-partisan.

Big difference in how House leaders handled Massa, Foley scandals

Matt Jacob — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:52:11 -0500

Four years after news of the Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) scandal broke, the controversy surrounding Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) was handled much more responsibly by House leadership. CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan compares the two sex impropriety scandals in this op-ed at Politico:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington regularly condemns politicians for disgraceful conduct. It is a rare day when we can praise someone for getting it right. Today is one of those days.

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) may be ranting to anyone who will listen that House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) forced him out of Congress because he voted against health care reform. But the truth is that Hoyer stood up against sexual harassment of staff members.

In early February, a top Massa aide sought advice from Hoyer about how to handle allegations that Massa had sexually harassed one of his male aides. Hoyer told him to turn the information over to the House Ethics Committee — or Hoyer would report the allegations himself. The staffer told the ethics panel and was interviewed twice by investigators, who also interviewed other top Massa aides.

Contrast Hoyer’s conduct with that of many members of Congress in another recent scandal.

Click here to read the rest of her column.

Rep. Massa leaves office by alleging conspiracy

Matt Jacob — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:04:11 -0500

The controversy surrounding Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) and his hastily announced resignation is taking on a new and bizarre twist. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has called the congressman's claims that a conspiracy forced him out "silly and ridiculous."

Meanwhile, Roll Call provides this snapshot of the work environment inside Rep. Massa's office:

During his weekly radio show Sunday on New York station WKPQ Power 105 FM, Massa, a retired Naval officer, acknowledged that his “salty” language had at times offended members of his own staff.

“I am guilty of using language [that] I am sure that would turn someone’s hair white. But it was in the privacy of my own home and in the privacy of my inner office,” Massa said.

... One incident in January, Massa continued, prompted him to issue a staff-wide memorandum, requiring everyone in his office — himself included — to adhere to “a higher standard” of behavior.

“I said something that was out of bounds. I said, ‘I had to go lick lollipops to raise money.’ Now you can use your imagination to know what I actually said,” Massa recalled. “It was inappropriate. I actually had someone on the staff say, ‘Come on now boss,’ and I said, ‘You’re right, I’m sorry.’”