CREW TO ETHICS COMMITTEE: CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

28 Jan 2010 // Washington, D.C. - Upon reading the House Ethics Committee’s report on the Office of Congressional Ethics’ (OCE) investigation of Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said, “the public feud between the Ethics Committee and OCE is out of hand. Regardless of the facts in this case, using an ethics report to call out the OCE is beyond bad form, it is petty and counterproductive.” Sloan continued, “Over the past 12 months the Ethics Committee has made it abundantly clear it views the OCE as an annoying interloper interfering with the restrained and judicious investigation of members charged with wrongdoing. The Ethics Committee would do well to remember the reason the OCE was created in the first place was because the public has no faith in the Ethics Committee’s ability to police the conduct of members of Congress. That hasn’t changed. At least the OCE is doing something, which is more than anyone can say about the Ethics Committee.”

Click here to read the House Ethics Committee's statement on Rep. Stark, and click here to read the Committee's report.