Washington, Mar 12, 2008 -

Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) issued the following statement after Democrat leaders broke House rules in order to pass their deeply flawed ethics proposal.

Members of Congress have criticized this proposal because it would only further complicate and weaken, rather than enhance, the ethics enforcement process. This proposal adds another layer of partisan bureaucracy to the ethics enforcement process.

"Ethics reform should not be a partisan issue. It is an American issue that must be solved. The fading trust Americans hold in their public officials is something that concerns every citizen, every public official, and every future office holder. Together we can work to find a way to achieve true ethics enforcement. This is not something that Democrat leaders can try to hastily address with an inferior, quick fix that is masked as reform. That only adds to disillusionment with government and the political system. We deserve a thorough and systematic solution to restore trust in the government." - Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05)

Democrats violated House rules by holding open the vote of H. Res. 895 to establish within the House of Representatives an Office of Congressional Ethics. According to the majority’s manifesto, New Direction for America: "Floor votes should be completed within 15 minutes…No vote shall be held open in order to manipulate the outcome."

Last night, the vote was called at 9:31 p.m. By the rules of the House, the vote was set to last 15 minutes which would have closed the vote at 9:46 p.m. However, at approximately 10:00 p.m., the chair called the vote at 207-206, and the motion passed. The proposal had fewer ‘yes’ votes than ‘no’ votes up until the final few seconds at which time the gavel came down to close the vote.

The board conceived in the Democrat measure consists of a 3-3 split of partisan appointees, rather than bi-partisan agreement on nominees. Since only two partisan–nominated members of a six member investigatory board set up by this legislation are required for an investigation into any allegation to move forward, it creates a situation ripe for abuse. It takes four members to stop an investigation, as opposed to two to initiate, creating possible gridlock around investigations.  The potential for baseless allegations to be filed for partisan gain is clear for both Republicans and Democrats. Congress should not move in this troubling direction, and should instead embrace any needed reform of the existing Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. 

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