#ethics reform

[liberalsarecool]

Clarence Thomas can take millions in paid vacations and gifts from donors with cases before SCOTUS and Federalist Society folks will smile with pride in their corrupt creation.

[saywhat-politics]

Bill Barr Is Big Mad Over A Supreme Court Ethics Code

He's attacking Court reform, despite wide support for the proposals.

By Kathryn Rubino on August 05, 2024 12:16 pm

Former Attorney General Bill Barr is big mad. Yes, according to Fox News’ own polling, Supreme Court reform is wildly popular (Opens in a new window) — on a bipartisan level. But he is doing everything in his power to knock them down. In an op-ed today (Opens in a new window), he, along with co-author Kelly Shackelford of the First Liberty Institute, comes out swinging.

Joe Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal (Opens in a new window) (supported by Kamala Harris) includes a functional 18-year term limit for SCOTUS and an enforceable code of ethics. Again, both of these ideas have mainstream support (78%!), but he still proceeds to fear monger.

Bill Barr Is Big Mad Over A Supreme Court Ethics Code - Above the Law

He's attacking Court reform, despite wide support for the proposals.

[schraubd]

Endless Stunt Investigations is All the House GOP Will Do, Because It's All They Can Agree Upon

Having finally secured his chair as House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has given his caucus marching orders -- and those orders are "do nothing but launch petty performative investigations of the Biden administration".

Kevin McCarthy has told House Republicans to treat every committee like the Oversight panel — that is, use every last bit of authority to dig into the Biden administration. That work begins in earnest this week.

Several sprawling probes — largely directed at President Joe Biden, his family and his administration — set the stage for a series of legal and political skirmishes between the two sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s all with an eye on the true battle, the 2024 election, as Biden flirts with a reelection run and House Republicans hope to expand their control to the White House.

After two impeachments of former President Donald Trump and a select committee that publicly detailed his every last move to unsuccessfully overturn the 2020 election results, GOP lawmakers are eager to turn the spotlight. And their conservative base is hoping for fireworks, calling on Republican leaders to grill several Biden world figures, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, retired chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci and presidential son Hunter Biden.

This isn't at all surprising, of course. In fact, it was probably inevitable after the Speaker vote fiasco exposed just how bitterly divided the GOP is (and how in thrall it is to its nihilist caucus). They're never going to forward an affirmative policy agenda, since they can't agree on any particulars beyond sloganeering (and also, policies tend to require money, which the GOP adamantly refuses to raise or spend unless it is on gut-busting upper-bracket tax cuts). But investigations? That doesn't require any policy agenda at all -- that's just mugging for the camera and talking about how much they hate Democrats. Right in their wheelhouse! 

That the GOP is still nursing ludicrous levels of grievance over the terrible unfairness of a House panel exposing why coups are bad only exacerbates their belief that this is naught but turnabout being fair play. And as the New York Times reported the other day, the GOP's view of "investigations" is to take it as a divine axiom that they and theirs are being abused, then pursue that axiom to hell and back no matter how little evidence ends up supporting the proposition.

So this is entirely within expectations for the new GOP House. Expect nothing but loud yelling investigations for two years as they throw everything they can at a wall and wait for something to stick. They don't agree on or even believe in anything else, but they can agree on doing that.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/k46hDip

[nathanarcher]

Archer, Nathan. “Hand-Me-Downs.” Tallahassee Democrat, December 29, 2019. https://on.tdo.com/2nUeq7o.

[schraubd]

The GOP Congress IS the Swamp

The House GOP caucus has beaten a hasty retreat from its proposal to gut their independent ethics oversight body, thanks to a firestorm of calls from angry constituents. A good example of what angry constituents can still accomplish. But also a good opportunity to start imposing a narrative on 2017. As far as I'm concerned, the second Trump is inaugurated is the second that the DNC and affiliated organizations should start cutting ads hammering Republicans on ethics. Over and over and over again. Drain they swamp? They are the swamp! And the more quickly that narrative is established, the harder it will be for congressional Republicans to wriggle free of it come 2018. Take this script:

Entrenched corruption in Washington. Politicians in the pocket of Wall Street billionaires. Foreign states interfering in American elections. Unprecedented conflicts of interest. 

And the first thing [John Doe] did in 2017? He voted to "gut" Congress' independent ethics watchdog.

Drain the swamp? John Doe IS the swamp.

No credit for having second thoughts. Run it until they bleed. via The Debate Link http://ift.tt/2j1AJmP

[rebuiltzine]

Baltimore Councilman’s Dual Role Raises New Questions About Oversight and Accountability

By MDBayNews Staff A new report from The Baltimore Sun is renewing debate at City Hall over transparency, ethics, and accountability—this time involving a senior councilman and one of Baltimore’s most powerful taxpayer-funded nonprofits. According to the investigation, Mark Parker, a Baltimore City Council member, joined the board of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) in September…

Baltimore Councilman’s Dual Role Raises New Questions About Oversight and Accountability

[rebuiltzine]

The $190,000 Coffee: How a One-Hour Meeting Exposed Baltimore County’s Culture of Cronyism

What started as an innocent coffee meeting in a Towson café turned into one of the most expensive “chats” in Baltimore County history—a four-year legal circus that drained nearly $190,000 in taxpayer funds, pitted public watchdogs against political insiders, and laid bare how Maryland’s ruling class protects its own. The scandal isn’t just about two lawyers with bruised egos. It’s about how…

The $190,000 Coffee: How a One-Hour Meeting Exposed Baltimore County’s Culture of Cronyism

[rebuiltzine]

"The Maryland Way": A Deep-Rooted Culture of Corruption Hiding in Plain Sight

By Michael Phillips Maryland may boast of its crab feasts, blue-ribbon schools, and proximity to the nation’s capital—but behind the charm lies a stubborn stain that refuses to wash out: government corruption. For decades, the Free State has been plagued by scandal after scandal, from petty theft to multi-million-dollar rackets, involving mayors, governors, state delegates, police officers, and…

"The Maryland Way": A Deep-Rooted Culture of Corruption Hiding in Plain Sight