The Lords of Transparency: Pelosi Looks to Limit Info on Ethics Violations

They want to make the process less transparent so if they get cleared it could be like it never happened:

Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said, “The Speaker listened to concerns of members and stated that all House rules are reviewed at the beginning of every Congress.”The House reconsiders its rules for the chamber every two years. Aides and legislators stressed that no decisions have been made on the new rules for the 112th Congress.

Some legislators have complained that when the House ethics committee rejects an OCE recommendation to investigate a member, the OCE findings are sometimes made public and tarnish the lawmaker’s reputation.While amending the OCE is being considered, making such changes now would be politically difficult because Republicans are citing Democratic ethics scandals in their effort to retake control of the House.

CBC members and Pelosi discussed a plan to begin a dialogue over the next few months about changing the OCE’s rules following the midterm elections. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), a former prosecutor who was elected in a 2009 special election after the death of then-ethics committee Chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), volunteered to lead the effort.

Sources say Fudge was expected to craft proposed changes to the OCE and circulate them among like-minded lawmakers on both sides of aisle. But in a move that has irritated some House Democrats, Fudge quietly introduced the legislation on May 28 with 19 CBC co-sponsors. Days later, government watchdogs and the editorial pages of The Washington Post and The New York Times blasted Fudge’s resolution. Fudge’s handling of the matter has been described as clumsy and hampered the effort to make changes to the ethics process.

I love the fact that they are upset the plan became public knowledge and put up a roadblock to their plans. Lets be clear, a politician may be cleared a narrow guidelines, but still have done something questionable and smarmy. Why wouldn't all the information be allowed to get out? Shouldn't the pols constituents know what happened, and if that person was cleared shouldn't that be enough?