Keeping Office of Congressional Ethics a wise decision

House Republicans were wise to step away from a foolish plan to muzzle the Office of Congressional Ethics as their big first step toward running Washington.

A good rule of thumb for anyone who gains power should be to remember to use it wisely. And congressional Republicans should remember that when one party controls Congress and the White House, it’s smart not to get cocky. Gutting an ethics watchdog — in a vote taken behind closed doors — before the new year even gets started surely would have set an awful tone for the opening of the 115th Congress.

The errant voting took place against the wishes of their leadership. Paul Ryan, the speaker, and Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, warned against the move. And by Tuesday morning, the rebellious vote also picked up criticism on Twitter from President-elect Donald Trump, who, though he called the OCE “unfair,” reminded the GOP a goal of his was to “drain the swamp” of corruption.

Thankfully, most of Colorado’s Republican congressmen (Ken Buck, Mike Coffman and Doug Lamborn) voted against the plan Monday night. (Scott Tipton so far hasn’t revealed how he voted.)

More thankfully still, the rest of the House GOP members got the message and let the plan die. In an emergency meeting on the first morning of the new Congress, the members voted unanimously to leave the OCE alone.

We’ve supported the Office of Congressional Ethics and believe in its mission. Established in 2008, the small, independent entity is set up to be a nonpartisan fact-finder into alleged wrong-doing by House members, officers and their staffs. The watchdog is overseen by a board of private citizens who don’t work for Congress, but who submit findings to the House ethics committee when allegations of misconduct are found worthy of further investigation. Those reports become public information, a fact that makes it more difficult for the elected members in the House to avoid proper follow-up.

The watchdog also won support from transparency advocates on both sides of the political divide.

As the conservative Judicial Watch warned before the GOP turnabout: “This driveby effort to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, which provides appropriate independence and transparency to the House ethics process, is a poor way for the Republican majority to begin ‘draining the swamp.’ The American people will see this latest push to undermine congressional ethics enforcement as shady and corrupt.”

Over the years, the watchdog’s role has created problems for Democrats and Republicans. In calling for the changes, lawmakers argued that the OCE’s powers were too broad, and took issue with the watchdog’s ability to receive anonymous tips.

Colorado’s Ken Buck, in a statement about his vote against the changes to the OCE, argued that any changes to the OCE should be attempted more transparently, by working through the process of debating and passing a bill.

Such an argument makes immensely more sense than hobbling this important watchdog, and we’re glad to see the GOP switched course in a way that would allow reforms, if truly needed, to proceed responsibly.

— The Denver Post, Digital First Media

Colorado’s Ken Buck, in a statement about his vote against the changes to the OCE, argued that any changes to the OCE should be attempted more transparently, by working through the process of debating and passing a bill.