John Joseph Moakley: “What began as a sincere bipartisan effort to improve the House ethics process has disintegrated into one more political…”

“What began as a sincere bipartisan effort to improve the House ethics process has disintegrated into one more political sham. On February 12 Democrats and Republicans agreed to a moratorium on ethics complaints and they stuck to it. Neither side filed any new charges until a bipartisan task force had the chance to examine the ethics process and suggest improvements. But like other truly bipartisan efforts before it, this agreement has been destroyed and the ethics moratorium seems to have served only to bolster the image of a few besieged Members. For 9 months, 10 Members of this House, myself included, met and negotiated on every single aspect of the House ethics process. For 9 months we worked, buoyed by the promise that long hours and tiresome negotiations would eventually amount to something and that no amendments would be allowed, I repeat, no amendments would be allowed unless they were approved by the Democratic and Republican cochairs. Let me repeat that, Mr. Speaker. During the task force negotiations, there was no talk whatsoever about bipartisan amendments.”