Feb 26, 2004 -- Press Release: Statement by Trevor Potter on House Ethics Committee

Press Release: Statement by Trevor Potter on the House Ethics Committee

Trevor Potter , the president and general counsel to the Campaign Legal Center, released this statement on the House Ethics Committee:

"We are calling on the House of Representatives to take action to fix the broken House ethics system. The public must rely on the House of Representatives to police the ethical conduct of its Members. Unfortunately, the Members of the House of Representatives, through their party leadership, have decided to go on an ethics strike. They have prohibited outside groups from filing complaints with the House Ethics Committee and have agreed on an informal "truce" so that no Member will file a complaint against another Member. The result is an almost nonexistent House ethics process. The public is entitled to better than this.

"We call on the leadership of both parties in the House of Representatives to return to the previous rules which allowed for complaints from non-Members. A system which allows outside complaints is fair and responds to public concerns. It has worked well in the United States Senate during the same period of time that it has been prohibited in the House."