Republicans got control of the federal government off to a rocky start Monday, but a tweet by GOP President-elect Donald Trump quickly got his House colleagues back on track. Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., is the villain in a move that was designed to weaken the office that keeps congressmen on the straight and narrow.
Goodlatte on Monday got his House Judiciary Committee to defang the Office of Congressional Ethics that has been able to investigate anonymous complaints about the ethical behavior of House members. Former U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, D-New Orleans, was one of three representatives investigated for bribery allegations. All three were convicted and went to jail.
Trump in his two tweets said, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, health care and so many other things of far greater importance.”
In fairness to House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, it should be noted the two of them argued against Goodlatte’s move. The secret vote in favor of Goodlatte’s motion was reportedly 119-73 in favor.
The Advocate reported that U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Metairie and U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, both said they voted against the motion. The newspaper said it didn’t hear back from a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, and attempts to reach U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, and Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, were unsuccessful.
Bloomberg News reported the ethics office was created in 2008 by government watchdog groups who said at the time the House Ethics Committee wasn’t diligent enough in policing and punishing member wrongdoing on its own.
OCE was set up to do preliminary and independent reviews of ethics accusations to determine if the ethics committee should conduct further investigations. It is overseen by a six-member outside board, considered one of its strong suits.
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., was one who supported Goodlatte’s move. He said there had been numerous examples of members being falsely accused and they had to spend fortunes to have their good names restored.
Goodlatte told Bloomberg, “The OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and this amendment does nothing to impede their work.”
Two officials with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington didn’t agree.
“OCE is one of the outstanding ethics accomplishments of the House of Representatives, and it has played a critical role in seeing that the congressional ethics process is no longer viewed as merely a means to sweep problems under the rug,” the two men said.
The questionable GOP effort also played into the hands of House Democrats who are led by the controversial Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California. She said the GOP wanted to “drain the swamp,” but ethics became its first casualty.
Although Trump gets credit for killing the effort to eliminate the OCE, his critics only gave him faint praise.
David A. Graham in The Atlantic said, “President-elect Donald Trump has shown a rare talent for leaving his own allies and friends in a difficult and awkward spot, and he demonstrated that talent again on Monday, weakly condemning a move by House Republicans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics as a misplaced priority, while also calling the office ‘unfair’ — a very public demonstration of why even the president-elect’s strongest allies sometimes find it difficult to follow his lead.”
Graham said Trump’s only complaint was about the timing and priority of the move, and he really wants the House to focus on those things he cares about the most. However, he said Trump’s tweets “seem to demonstrate his keen ability to read an audience and react” and “he may also have jumped in just in time to claim credit for a shift that was already underway.”
It is clearly obvious from listening to weekend talk shows and reading numerous accounts of Trump’s sometimes confusing comments that the president-elect could be in for some tough sledding over the next four years.
Michael Gerson, who writes for The Washington Post and whose columns are published by the American Press, was a Sunday panelist on CBS’s “Meet the Press.” He complained that Trump and much of his Cabinet has no government experience, which he obviously believes is vital to success.
While government experience can be valuable, the recent election demonstrated that nearly half the voters in this country want nothing to do with almost anyone who has spent any time in government.
Take Higgins, for example. He was elected last Dec. 10 to represent this area of the state in Washington, D.C. Higgins’ only claim to fame is the reputation he earned on Crime Stoppers television and You Tube as the “Cajun John Wayne.” However, he easily defeated Republican Scott Angelle, who has spent half his lifetime in government service.
The winning margin was historic in the seven of 10 parishes Higgins carried. He led with 70 percent of the vote in Acadia Parish, 69 percent in Iberia Parish, 68 percent in St. Landry and Vermilion parishes and 63 percent in St. Mary Parish.
Trump’s winning margin wasn’t that big, but he won nevertheless. And he seems destined to keep political pundits who have found Trump hard to swallow dealing with it for the next four years.
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