Dec 21, 2006 -- Reform Groups Urge House Members to Support Establishment of Office of Public Integrity, Set Forth Essential Elements for Office

Enclosed for your information is a letter reform groups sent today to House members urging them to publicly support the establishment of an Office of Public Integrity (OPI) to help enforce the House ethics rules. The letter is accompanied by a one-page summary that sets forth essential elements for an OPI.

According to the letter, ''it is essential to establish a nonpartisan, professional enforcement entity with real authority to help enforce the House ethics rules. This reform is the lynchpin for all other ethics reforms.''

A similar letter was sent today to all Senators.

The reform groups supporting the establishment of an Office of Public Integrity and the essential elements for the Office set forth in the one-page summary include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

December 21, 2006

Dear Representative,

Exit polls on Election Day made clear that the corruption and ethics scandals in Congress were at the top of voter concerns. According to CNN (November 8, 2006):

When asked which issue was extremely important to their vote, more voters said corruption and ethics in government than any other issue, including the war, according to national exit polls.

At the core of these scandals was a failed ethics enforcement process, with the House Ethics Committee not even functioning for much of the past Congress.

According to publicly available information, the House Ethics Committee never undertook an investigation of Jack Abramoff and his various scandalous activities in connection with a number of Representatives and congressional staff members. No member of the House and no staff were held accountable by the ethics committee in connection with the worst congressional ethics scandals in decades.

Our organizations believe it is essential to establish a nonpartisan, professional enforcement entity with real authority to help enforce the House ethics rules. This reform is the lynchpin for all other ethics reforms.

We strongly urge you to publicly support the establishment of an Office of Public Integrity with the essential elements set forth in the enclosed summary and to take all possible steps to ensure that legislation to create this Office is passed by the House.

Campaign Legal Center
Common Cause
Democracy 21
League of Women Voters
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG

Establishing an Office of Public Integrity to Help Enforce
the House Ethics Rules

It is essential to establish a nonpartisan, professional enforcement entity with real authority to help enforce the House ethics rules. This reform is the lynchpin for all other ethics reforms. An Office of Public Integrity should be created with the following essential elements:

- The Office of Public Integrity should have the authority to receive and investigate outside complaints and to initiate and conduct investigations on its own authority, where the Office determines that a matter requires investigation.

The Office should have the powers necessary to conduct investigations, including the authority to administer oaths, and to issue and enforce subpoenas. The subject of any investigation should have the opportunity to present information to the Office to show that no violation has occurred. The Office should have the authority to dismiss frivolous complaints expeditiously and to impose sanctions for filing such complaints.

- The Office of Public Integrity should be headed by a Director or by a three-member panel, should have a professional, impartial staff and should have the resources necessary to carry out the Office's responsibilities.

If the Office is headed by a Director, the Director should be chosen jointly by the Speaker and Minority Leader. If the Office is headed by a panel, the panel should consist of three members, with one member chosen by the Speaker, one member chosen by the Minority Leader and the third member chosen by the other two members.

- The Office's Director or panel members should be individuals of distinction with experience as judges, ethics officials or in law enforcement, should not be Members or former Members, should have term appointments and should be subject to removal only for cause by joint agreement of the Speaker and Minority Leader.

- The Office should have the authority to present a case to the House Ethics Committee for its decision, based on the same standard that is currently used to determine when a case should be presented to the Committee. The Ethics Committee would be responsible for determining if ethics rules have been violated and what, if any, sanctions should be imposed or recommended to the House. A public report should be issued on the disposition of a case by the Ethics Committee. The Office should have the authority to recommend sanctions to the Committee, if the Committee determines an ethics violation had occurred.

- The Office should receive, monitor and oversee financial disclosure, travel and other reports filed by Members and staff, to ensure that reports are properly filed and to make the reports public in a timely and easily accessible manner. The Office should have the same authority for lobbying reports filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

This list of essential elements for an Office of Public Integrity is supported by the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

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