October 30, 2009

Contact: Naomi Seligman // 202.408.5565

30 Oct 2009 // Washington, D.C. - In response to today’s Washington Post story [1] detailing ethics investigations into a number of members of Congress, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) executive director Melanie Sloan released the following statement:

“Time and time again CREW has called for investigations of unethical members of Congress, but our pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. So, we were pleasantly surprised to learn the ethics committee is investigating so many members of Congress, but starting an investigation isn’t enough. The real question is whether any of the members under investigation will ever be held accountable for their conduct. The committee’s record on such matters is dismal. You have only to look back at the Mark Foley investigation -- where all of America knew there was wrongdoing yet the committee found none -- to be skeptical of the House ethics process. There’s not much reason to think anything has changed, but one can always hope.”

Ms. Sloan is available to discuss the issues surrounding the ethics investigations. Please find CREW’s complaints against a number of the members below:

Rep. Jane Harman [2]
Rep. Alan Mollohan [3]
Rep. John Murtha [4]
Rep. Charles Rangel [5]
Rep. Laura Richardson [6]
Rep. Pete Visclosky [7]

Read more about CREW’s House ethics work here [8].

Please contact Naomi Seligman at 202.408.5565 or nseligman@citizensforethics.org [9].