PASSING THE BUCK

“Congressional mores could certainly use an upgrade, but it pays to beware of reformers promising to clean up politics by letting someone else do the dirty work. Exhibit A is the strange new enthusiasm for an ‘independent’ office of public integrity for Congress... A better name for such an ‘independent’ ethics body would be the office of public buck-passing, because it would allow Congress to spare itself the heavy political lifting of judging colleagues. Handing over that duty to outsiders would make Congress less politically accountable, not more, while creating a whole new set of political problems and disputes... Like campaign finance reform, the proposal to outsource ethics oversight is about the appearance of virtue. It would let the Members pretend to come clean while lifting the burden of actually enforcing their own standards of conduct.” —The Wall Street Journal