Conservative & Taxpayer Groups Join Reformers in Push to Save Office of Congressional Ethics

A coalition of 10 groups, including Judicial Watch, Taxpayers for Common Sense, National Taxpayers Union and a number of reform groups will hold a press conference Thursday at 10:30 a.m. to urge the incoming House leadership of the 112th Congress to continue the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and to oppose any efforts to weaken or undermine the office.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent nonpartisan investigative office in the House credited with pressuring the notoriously inactive House Ethics Committee to do its job.

The groups will release research showing an increase in activity this Congress by the House Ethics Committee, which appears prompted by the work of the Office of Congressional Ethics. The OCE undertook 69 preliminary reviews in 2009 and 2010, while the House ethics committee doled out 11 disciplinary actions in that same time, more than twice its activity level during the Jack Abramoff scandal years of 2006 to 2008. The Ethics Committee took no action around the Abramoff scandals during that period.

What: Press conference in support of maintaining the Office of Congressional Ethics

When: 10:30 am EST Thursday, Dec. 2

Where: Room 2203 Rayburn House Office Building

Who:

• Campaign Legal Center Policy Director Meredith McGehee
• Common Cause President Bob Edgar
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Policy Director Jeremy Miller
• Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer
• Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton
• League of Women Voters Executive Director Nancy Tate
• National Taxpayers Union Executive Vice President Pete Sepp
• US PIRG Federal Legislative Office Director Gary Kalman
• Public Citizen Government Affairs Lobbyist Craig Holman
• Taxpayers for Common Sense President Ryan Alexander