'Ethics? Who Needs That?'
'Ethics!? Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' Ethics! In fact we Now feel, with backing of our brand spanking new President, that from now On, 'ethics' will be treated like an 'over staying' house guest. You know, sometimes nice to have around, but even nicer when they have gone.
I mean, Come On already, 'all' of us here are 'big boys', we don't need 'minders' babysitting us 'all' the time. We 'know' right from wrong, and we must continue to be vig...ilent while watching each others backs..errr...ah..that is, to make sure there's 'no' wrongdoing that we don't 'know' about, you know, that could reflect in a bad way on us all. We All feel that the overbearing 'Office of Congressional Ethics' was simply a lot of needless Overkill, redundant, and not a little, an oxi-moron. After all, 'Congressional', and 'Ethics' in the same sentence?? What's That all about!? This thing was just binding us up like a diet of 24/7 peanutbutter crackers. Always having to 'innocently' look over our shoulders to see if some goody-two shoes was gonna stab us in the back over some silly 'ethics' violation that we didn't 'mean' to do. Sometimes that browbeating Office of Congressional Ethics just made it Too easy for some of us to get caught, errr..that is get caught Up in time wasting efforts to keep one of our memembers out of trouble. This 'new' office will make 'lawmakers' better protected from overzealous efforts to catch us and convict us of 'alledged' ethics violations. Hey, if it's good enough for our new Commander In Chief, it's even Better than enough for Us! We are the Best when it comes to playing 'follow the Leader'. We will do whatever it takes to make Us exempt from conflicts of interest just like our new 'boss', or I'm 'not' Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee . You see, it was Way to easy for someone carrying a grudge to accuse us of some 'alleged' wrong doing. How were we supposed to get Any work done around here with That hanging over our heads all the time. Now, with this New office we have cleaverly, behind Closed Doors, in Secret, and out of View of our constituants prying ethical Eyes, put the 'Fox' in Charge of the 'hen' house. Love it when a great plan comes together!
Good grief! This job is tough enough already! Now we can all relax and carry on 'business as usual' without having to worry about things like 'Ethics', that to Us, really do Not matter. Don't worry folks, we have Everything under control here now, we have Your best interest's at heart, all we think about is serving You, our fellow Americans just as we have 'Always' done. This new office will work out so well that you will now seldom if Ever 'hear' of Any 'ethics' violations coming to your attention and distracting you from your everyday lives. Reeelaaaax...'Trust' us on this one folks. 'Trust' us.'
;)
'Footnote'; Due to public outcry Mr. Goodlatte and his minions have since decided to Not go through with their idiotic scheme. A 'possible' lesson learned by these out of touch Politicians. ;)
'Ethics!? Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' Ethics! In fact we Now feel, with backing of our brand spanking new President, that from now On, 'ethics' will be treated like an 'over staying' house guest. You know, sometimes nice to have around, but even nicer when they have gone.
I mean, Come On already, 'all' of us here are 'big boys', we don't need 'minders' babysitting us 'all' the time. We 'know' right from wrong, and we must continue to be vig...ilent while watching each others backs..errr...ah..that is, to make sure there's 'no' wrongdoing that we don't 'know' about, you know, that could reflect in a bad way on us all. We All feel that the overbearing 'Office of Congressional Ethics' was simply a lot of needless Overkill, redundant, and not a little, an oxi-moron. After all, 'Congressional', and 'Ethics' in the same sentence?? What's That all about!? This thing was just binding us up like a diet of 24/7 peanutbutter crackers. Always having to 'innocently' look over our shoulders to see if some goody-two shoes was gonna stab us in the back over some silly 'ethics' violation that we didn't 'mean' to do. Sometimes that browbeating Office of Congressional Ethics just made it Too easy for some of us to get caught, errr..that is get caught Up in time wasting efforts to keep one of our memembers out of trouble. This 'new' office will make 'lawmakers' better protected from overzealous efforts to catch us and convict us of 'alledged' ethics violations. Hey, if it's good enough for our new Commander In Chief, it's even Better than enough for Us! We are the Best when it comes to playing 'follow the Leader'. We will do whatever it takes to make Us exempt from conflicts of interest just like our new 'boss', or I'm 'not' Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee . You see, it was Way to easy for someone carrying a grudge to accuse us of some 'alleged' wrong doing. How were we supposed to get Any work done around here with That hanging over our heads all the time. Now, with this New office we have cleaverly, behind Closed Doors, in Secret, and out of View of our constituants prying ethical Eyes, put the 'Fox' in Charge of the 'hen' house. Love it when a great plan comes together!
Good grief! This job is tough enough already! Now we can all relax and carry on 'business as usual' without having to worry about things like 'Ethics', that to Us, really do Not matter. Don't worry folks, we have Everything under control here now, we have Your best interest's at heart, all we think about is serving You, our fellow Americans just as we have 'Always' done. This new office will work out so well that you will now seldom if Ever 'hear' of Any 'ethics' violations coming to your attention and distracting you from your everyday lives. Reeelaaaax...'Trust' us on this one folks. 'Trust' us.'
;) 'Footnote'; Due to public outcry Mr. Goodlatte and his minions have since decided to Not go through with their idiotic scheme. A 'possible' lesson learned by these out of touch Politicians. ;)
Politics
With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office
WASHINGTON — House Republicans, overriding their top leaders, voted on Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
The move to effectively kill the Office of Congressional Ethics was not made public until late Monday, when Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change. There was no advance notice or debate on the measure.
The surprising vote came on the eve of the start of a new session of Congress, where emboldened Republicans are ready to push an ambitious agenda on everything from health care to infrastructure, issues that will be the subject of intense lobbying from corporate interests. The House Republicans’ move would take away both power and independence from an investigative body, and give lawmakers more control over internal inquiries.
It also came on the eve of a historic shift in power in Washington, where Republicans control both houses of Congress and where a wealthy businessman with myriad potential conflicts of interest is preparing to move into the White House.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority leader, spoke out during the meeting to oppose the measure, aides said on Monday night. The full House is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on the rules, which would last for two years, until the next congressional elections.
In place of the office, Republicans would create a new Office of Congressional Complaint Review that would report to the House Ethics Committee, which has been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.
“Poor way to begin draining the swamp,” Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, said on Twitter. He added, “Swamp wins with help of @SpeakerRyan, @RepGoodlatte.”
Mr. Goodlatte defended the action in a statement on Monday evening, saying it would strengthen ethics oversight in the House while also giving lawmakers better protections against what some of them have called overzealous efforts by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
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