Saturday, October 13, 2007

There's A Senate Ethics Committee?

It sounds too good to be true...a committee that investigates Senators with questionable ethics. The fact that such a committee exists should prove that the Senate is up to the task of making sure they hold their own accountable when it comes to breaking the law. Even more shocking, the GOP demanded to use said committee to investigate the actions of Larry Craig, who pled guilty to a misdemeanor lewd conduct charge so he could escape prosecution of soliciting sex in a men's restroom. So who on the committee is going to lead the charge and start taking names?

Well....no one really. Apparently it was just a bluff made by the GOP and Larry Craig called it. Oh, and the Democrats do not plan on doing anything about it either, lest they look like the pot that called the kettle black.

From The Huffington Post:

The secretive Ethics Committee, comprising three Democrats and three Republicans, may recommend discipline against a senator for "conduct or activity which does not directly relate to official duties, when such conduct unfavorably reflects on the institution as a whole."

Despite that broad standard, Brand told the committee in September that it has never acted on allegations unrelated to a senator's "official action."

Boxer said through a spokeswoman Friday: "We are in the process of conducting a preliminary inquiry, and this stage is always closed to the public. If, at the end of the preliminary inquiry, the Ethics Committee decides to move into the adjudicatory phase, any hearings held would be public unless the committee votes to close them. But that is a decision that is made after we have completed our preliminary inquiry."

The Ethics Committee traditionally moves slowly, with some cases taking years to resolve. The Craig matter seems no exception.


Well so much for upholding that standard of ethics we hope our elected leaders have...or not. True, it isn't like Craig murdered someone or anything, it was just soliciting sex in an airport bathroom. The incident is amusing but no one really got hurt (other than Craig's wife, family, the people of Idaho, integrity of the Senate and Larry's inner child).

Oh well, just another day in Washington.