Background

Scandals over the last two years have revealed a number of cases of overt corruption. Former Congressmen Duke Cunningham (Calif.) and Robert Ney (Ohio) were caught trading votes for campaign contributions and other bribes. Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff landed in jail for masterminding efforts using campaign contributions to steer public funds to his pet projects. Rep William Jefferson (La.) is under investigation after the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer and former Rep. Tom DeLay is still defending himself against corruption charges. Several top legislative and White House aides have already pled guilty to corruption charges and this may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Enforcement is key. The current system is broken. Overseeing one’s own colleagues is difficult under any circumstances, but oversight in a partisan-charged environment like Congress is, as we have now seen, impossible. This is not to say that members of Congress are any less capable than others to self-police, no one self-polices well. In the Executive Branch there is an Office of Government Ethics. Businesses have outside auditors. Congress needs independent and professional oversight and enforcement of the rules.
 
Several proposals, such as the Office of Public Integrity put forth in the House by Reps. Shays (Conn.) and Meehan (Mass.), or an independent ethics commission as detailed in a bill by Reps. Castle (Del.) and Platts (Penn.) create workable models of how such entities would operate.