Melanie Sloan: Does Washington Care About Ethics?

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http://www.rollcall.com/news/sloan_does_washington_care_about_ethics-207795-1.h

It is hard to persuade Members of Congress to take ethics seriously.

In the House of Representatives, the Ethics Committee is so dysfunctional it was forced to hire an outside counsel to investigate itself. Meanwhile, the Senate Ethics Committee recently woke from its long hibernation to issue a blistering report on the criminal conduct of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) — almost two years after the initial complaint was filed against him and after Ensign had already resigned.

Such is the lay of the land in Washington today, and no one seems eager to do anything about it. In fact, some Members are attempting to make it easier to operate with impunity.

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There are numerous instances where the FEC’s general counsel found reason to believe the law had been violated, and the Republican commissioners ignored the law and refused to act. If this sounds like a joke, it’s because it is, and Stephen Colbert has been riding it to ratings gold on a regular basis.