Congress has lost its mind...

One of the most effective features of the ethic reforms that the Democrats enacted in 2007 (with no Republican support) was the creation of the quasi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).

As a result, for the first time ever, ethics charges could be raised and investigated without having to rely on the Ethics Committee itself to initiate an action, which if one looks back throughout history rarely occurred (most recently, many of the Republicans who were charged with crimes in the Abramoff scandal never faced an Ethics Committee investigation).

What will happen to the OCE, if Boehner were to become Speaker:

The Republican minority leader, John Boehner, said he wants to “take a look” at the office if his party regains majority power — a reminder that his members fiercely opposed the quasi-independent office when it was created two years ago by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Boehner wondered aloud how effective the office really is, ignoring its considerable record for discreetly investigating alleged misbehavior on both sides of the aisle and letting the chips fall where they may.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/opinion/05thu3.html

and

House Republican leaders won’t say whether they will scrap an ethics office if they regain the majority this fall.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2008, has attracted criticism from Republicans and Democrats during the last couple of years. Most GOP lawmakers voted against the creation of the OCE, and many political observers believe the OCE will be disbanded should Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) become Speaker next year.

Pressed for comment, GOP leadership aides declined to directly answer the OCE question, presumably seeking to avoid politically damaging headlines about how Republicans want to strip away a new layer of ethics scrutiny.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/11...-ethics-office