Michele Bachmann: “this rule finds a way to create an ethics resolution that could encourage unethical behavior. This rule could create a…”

“this rule finds a way to create an ethics resolution that could encourage unethical behavior. This rule could create a place where potentially artificially manufactured scandal could be given a show trial by partisan inquisitors for the purpose of creating doubt about the character of Members of this Congress, all under the color of respectability, credibility, and authority. Mr. Speaker, it is ingenious because partisans remove themselves as the original accusers. Incredibly, after a 90-day period of show trials, the unreformed Ethics Committee in Congress will again take up the case, returning us to where we were before all this started, with no reform. In effect, the bill creates a bureaucracy of smear and witch hunt. It institutionalizes the politics of personal destruction with a potential of creating show trials with a public expense account. Mr. Speaker, this is a deeply ironic proposal that instead of combating corruption could reward it, and I urge all Members of this body to vigorously oppose this rule.”