Ethics games

Looks like someone is all in a tiffy over the defeat of an absurd resolution offered by Mike Rogers of Michigan to admonish Rep. Murtha of Pennsylvannia.

Given that there is no evidence for the alledged incident beyond the words of the accusor, this seems like a perfect situation for an independant ethics committee to get involved.

Oh, thats right... the Republican party has been kicking around the ethics process for years now. Our former Rep. Mike Sodrel was complicit in kicking down attempts to shed light on the most corrupt Congress in history.

And so now we enter a New Era in the house. We continue to drain the swamp (but it still appears deep) - but you cant change over 12 years of corrupt government overnight.

So Baron Hill is the man taking charge to change the face of the US House. He's challenging the leadership and old brass of both parties to work for more effective government for Hooisers. We applaud Rep. Hill for his intense focus on the issues most important to us. No tit-for-tat, 'politics as usual' arguments will challenge the determination of the people of this district to have a government that works for us.

I agree with Rep Miller of California:

"It's time to put on your long pants and grow up."

HR 1754: House Ethics Commission

Down from the wire:

(Washington, DC) - This morning newly-elected Democrats, led by Reps. Chris Murphy, Zack Space, Baron Hill, Paul Hodes, and Betty Sutton, urged Congress to move forward with comprehensive ethics reform by calling for a nonpartisan, independent entity that will vet, initiate, and conduct investigations.

Rep. Baron Hill has submitted his House Ethics Overhaul Bill. This was a fufillment on his promise from the 2006 election (archived here and here).

Baron explains the measure at the Hill Blog:

The House Ethics Commission Establishment Act would create an independent Ethics Commission comprised of 12 former Members of Congress who are not lobbyists – six Republicans chosen by the House Democratic leader and six Democrats chosen by the House Republican leader. This Commission would have the authority to investigate complaints of possible ethics violations by Members of Congress. The Commission would then present their findings to Congress, and the entire U.S. House of Representatives would vote on the course of disciplinary action recommended by the Commission. Any disciplinary actions suggested by the Ethics Commission must receive a majority vote by the full membership of the U.S. House in order to take effect.

This is an excellent peice of legislation to start correcting the pervasive Culture of Corruption that has settled over the Hill as the Republicans held the House since 1995. As Hill says:

People have lost faith in Congress because of the incidents of ethics violations by Members of Congress over the past few years. We must clean up Congress and prove to the American people that we are serious about enforcing the highest standards of conduct.

Absolutely. Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, Bob Ney, Jerry Lewis, John Doolittle, Rick Renzi... the list continues to expand long after the Republicans were flushed from the majority. Ethics charges aginst these men were always blocked by the leadership; we need a new system to investigate ethics in the House. I encourage all Hoosiers to contact their representative to either co-sponsor or support this bill for passage.

And the public can do more: those who take money from unethical and corrupt Congressmen should also be held accountable to the public. Here in the Ninth District, we know that all too well.

Welcome to Hoosiers For Hill

Welcome to the Hoosiers for Hill blog! This will be a grassroots blog for residents for the Ninth District (and Hoosiers throughout the state) who support Baron Hill. This blog will hopefully be a clearing house for news about Rep. Baron Hill, discussion of his record, announcements of his events, fundraising for his campaign, and a forum for discussion.

My name is Brian and I'm a strong Hill supporter from Bloomington in Monroe County. If you're interested in becoming a contributing writer here, email the blog at hoosiersforhill at gmail. I'd love to hear feedback in email or in the comments.

Hopefully we'll begin rolling along in the coming week with posts on news items, events, fundraising, and hopefully some pictures and video too.

Strong disclaimer: This blog is in no way affiliated with Baron Hill's Congressional Office, Baron Hill's re-election committee or campaign (which happens to go by Hoosiers for Hill). The items posted on this blog represent the personal opinions and words of the contributors or come from publically available releases from the press media or US House of Representatives (duely cited). Any and all questions can be submitted to [hoosiersforhill at gmail].