It’s Not Always about Partisanship

Over the past month I’ve written a lot about Mr. Tiahrt’s alleged ethics violations and subsequent acquittal from the House ethics committee (and the subsequent House resolution asking to look into that acquittal), and I have read a lot of your feedback in the comments sections of this site. While I am always supportive of healthy political discourse, one recurring comment/complaint that I have seen is about the legitimacy of the Office of Congressional Ethics as a non-partisan office. Some complaints include:

“He has been targeted by Pelosi's pet committee. Why can't conservatives see through this?”

“Only CONSERVATIVES are yet to be cleared, It's not fair to your readers to leave out facts.”

“The OCE was created by Nancy Pelosi and 5 of the 8 board members are democrats.”

“The fact is OCE made this political.”

If there is one thing I hate, it’s when people use the word facts when they fail to site actual facts; and if there’s another thing I hate, it’s when people create partisanship out of issues that are decidedly non-partisan. While it is true that the OCE was formed in a Congress led by Nancy Pelosi, and it is true that the independent leader of the OCE is a registered Democrat, the FACTS just do not support claims that the OCE acts with political motivations.

Last year the OCE recommended twelve cases to the Congressional Ethics Committee for further review. Of the 12 Representatives that were recommended for further review, 10 were Democrats and only 2 were Republicans (one being Mr. Tiahrt). Given these FACTS, there is no logical way to conclude that the OCE is acting in a political and partisan manner unless you believe that it is working against the Democratic Party.

It’s not always about partisanship. Just because Nancy Pelosi worked to create the committee does not mean that it is a corrupt and evil Democratic institution out to conquer the world. The fact of the matter is that examining what the OCE has actually done reveals that any bias against Republicans (or shadowy control by Nancy Pelosi) is simply not evident in the actions of the Office, and anybody that tries to contend differently is clearly being ignorant of the facts.

Factually Yours,

Publius