House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison.

The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.


Under the ethics change pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics would fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. It would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members," according to Goodlatte's office.

Lawmakers would have the final say under the change. House Republicans voted 119-74 for the Goodlatte measure despite arguments from Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., against the change. They failed to sway rank-and-file Republicans, some of whom have felt unfairly targeted by the OCE.

"The amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics," Goodlatte said in a statement.

Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily.

"Republicans claim they want to 'drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions," the California lawmaker said in a statement. "Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."

Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters, said Ryan should be ashamed of himself and his leadership team.

"We all know the so-called House Ethics Committee is worthless for anything other than a whitewash — sweeping corruption under the rug. That's why the independent Office of Congressional Ethics has been so important. The OCE works to stop corruption and that's why Speaker Ryan is cutting its authority. Speaker Ryan is giving a green light to congressional corruption."

The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Great start in the #DrainTheSwamp movement.

This is why an opposing party is never dead. The one in power writes the next election cycle ads for them.

They're still finding new evidence about how Nixon wrecked the Paris peace talks in '68 before the election. Just think about what Cheetolini and the current bunch of Republican reprobates are greasing the skids for now. Especially since for 46% of the idiot electorate facts don't matter.

Welcome to 1856. Brought to you by the morons from flyover country.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Cheetolini

Well done sir.

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"We'll take it from here"

I'm not sure why Carson went after Ryan...didn't he oppose getting rid of the OCE?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

He's the leader of the House.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

An inneresting segue to the book noted below ... I've got about an hour left to go ... noting that it was published in 2015 and started I think as early as 2008, it obviously could not have been composed with our current political reality in mind ... which makes it particularly unsettling as one listens to / reads about Dick Nixon directly from the perspective of Alexander Butterfield in light of Orange Julius Caesar descending upon DC soon. If we're lucky, history will only repeat itself rather than try for a new high score.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25786035-the-last-of-the-president-s-men
The Last of the President's Men
by Bob Woodward
Published October 13th 2015

A new work of narrative nonfiction from bestselling author Bob Woodward.

Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in his new book The Last of the President’s Men. Woodward reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon’s resignation. In forty-six hours of interviews with Butterfield, supported by thousands of documents, many of them original and not in the presidential archives and libraries, Woodward has uncovered new dimensions of Nixon’s secrets, obsessions and deceptions.

The Last of the President’s Men could not be more timely and relevant as voters question how much do we know about those who are now seeking the presidency in 2016—what really drives them, how do they really make decisions, who do they surround themselves with, and what are their true political and personal values?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Yet so many were excited about turning over our health care, secondary education, and child care to these people!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

WASHINGTON — House Republicans reversed themselves Tuesday under pressure from President-elect Donald Trump and dropped plans to swiftly gut an independent congressional ethics board.

The dizzying about-face came as lawmakers convened for the first day of the 115th Congress, an occasion normally reserved for pomp and ceremony under the Capitol Dome.

More good stuff from the President elect.

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Sure, OK.

This did end brilliantly for Trump. Republicans are such fuck-ups he ends up looking like a white knight.

This whole "fiasco" was planned political theater. Enact rule changes that ignore common sense. Then have your dirty President who stocked his cabinet with cronies and billionaire friends rush to quash this attempt to destroy a simple ethical watchdog.

Now he looks like an Eagle Scout when all his tweet said was scrapping the independent ethics shouldn't be the 1st item crossed off the 2017 to-do list. He never said Republicans shouldn't eliminate the investigative body.

Nice to see he will stand up to his own party.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I don't think anyone is off limits. He wants everyone to know he's in control. It's all about power for him.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Ed Burke is probably laughing at the House Republicans right now.

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/02/ ... -ordinance

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Don't you want something like that though? He doesn't care about the party, he cares about his agenda to help America. Ideally you would want someone who wasn't so unstable and crazy being in that seat, but in theory I like it.

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No. You have to get along with someone because the president has very little power. As we saw with Nixon there will be MANY lining up to bury you when you don't. Reagan understood that and possibly avoided impeachment because he knew how to build relationships.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I don't know.

All conventional wisdom goes out the window when talking about President-Elect Trump.

Maybe his hissyfits and constant public pressure forces change.

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I think they can be effective as long as things are going well. I also believe that it is easier to do when you aren't in office. At some point someone is going to respond and he's going to lose because he's president. You can't open yourself up to be on the same level as some first term congressman.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

What could Trump do that would make you say it was the right thing? Hillarettes are hoping this man destroys the country just so they can say "I told you so".

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Freedom is our Strength.

so wait...the repubs did this on purpose in concert with Trump? Ryan couldn't get them to vote correctly but they somehow as a body contracted with the Donald to send a tweet which then they walked everything back?

This is some conspiracy theory...be critical of Trump on a lot of things, but you should put your criticism squarely on the party, not on Giant Orange Racist.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Well said.

No party loyalist here.

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As opposed to all the previous clean presidents who stocked their cabinets with enemies and bums off lower Wacker.

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Freedom is our Strength.

that's because, as I have been saying for some time, he's not a republican. He's a democrat.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

#truth

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Yeah, nah. Terrible analysis, such as it is.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

He's not really anything. He's Trumpican or Demotrump. He has no ties to either party, once his 4 or 8 years are up he will ride back to Trump Tower and no Fs will be given about the state in which he left the Republican party.

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Did you read exactly what Trump tweeted? No.

Trump never said what the Republicans proposed was wrong. All he said was that there were other items that should be worked on first.


So he has no issue with scrapping an independent board. But he's taking credit for the rule change being abandoned. He's a scumbag.

There are a million things to criticize about Trump. Shaming House Republicans isn't one of them.

Also, there's plenty to take issue with regarding his cabinet, but the fact that they are rich isn't really something to beef on. Obama isn't surrounded by the destitute.

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Freedom is our Strength.

yet he's in concert with the party to pull off this theater? With a nominal unconvincing tweet? You're kind of twisting yourself in knots here...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.