Sen. Gordon Smith says independent ethics panel unconstitutional
By Peter Sachs / The Bulletin
WASHINGTON - As the U.S. House and Senate debate reforms to lobbying and ethics rules, the Oregon delegation is split on how Congress should best police itself.
Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., testified last week at a House hearing on ethics reform. They have introduced a proposal to create an independent ethics commission and get rid of the existing Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, also known as the ethics committee.
Walden said he introduced the legislation to fill a critical hole in the lobbying reform act the House is considering. The existing House ethics oversight is flawed, he and Blumenauer say, because forcing representatives to judge one another creates an uncomfortable environment with the potential for conflicts of interest.
Walden said both men were inspired by their years in the Oregon Legislature, which has an independent ethics commission.
"I think there are a number of members of both parties in the House that believe an outside independent commission is the best course of action to restore the confidence of the public and the integrity of the House," Walden said.
At a time when the public's approval of Congress is at a near-historic low, lobbying reform has come to the fore as a way to regain the trust of voters.
Last week, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted in favor of an unsuccessful amendment that would have established a similar review board for the Senate, while Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., opposed it.
"We have a system," Smith said in defense of the Senate ethics committee. "It works. People who violate ethics are punished."
Besides, Smith added, "The Constitution says the Senate is to be the judge of its members." Any plan to create an independent panel "borders on being unconstitutional."
Although the amendment was defeated, the broader lobbying reform bill passed the Senate 90-8 a week ago. Wyden and Smith supported the bill.
Walden's bill in the House would set up an independent panel comprised of 11 former representatives who left office at least two years ago. Five would be picked by the speaker of the House, five by the minority leader and the last one by the other appointees. The idea is to create a panel that would know how Congress operated, but would not have any vested interests in the House, Walden said.
But getting such a plan in place will be difficult, according to James Foster, a political science professor at Oregon State University-Cascades Campus in Bend.
"In order for Congress to line up the votes necessary to pass any sort of ethics reform, it has to be so watered-down and compromised ... that it's essentially not going to get the job done," Foster said.
The Senate's lobbying reform bill was criticized for leaving open too many loopholes and sidestepping major reforms, like banning privately funded travel. The bill barred lobbyists from buying meals and gifts for politicians, and also restricted the use of budget earmarks - money for specific projects that is often quietly inserted by senators.
"I'm under no illusion that reforming our process will be easy or without controversy," Walden said. "There are many members that like the system the way it is, and think it works just fine."