Ethics Issues Dominate Beltway News
Dec 10th, 2007 • Posted in: NewsDebate over interrogation of terror suspects intensifies in wake of revelation that CIA destroyed videotapes; mortgage industry and government agree to rescue plan for some homeowners who got in over their heads; and the U.S. Supreme Court upholds ruling in decade-old ethics case involving illegal taping of congressmen.
WASHINGTON
Recurring ethics issues, including one dating from more than a decade ago, were back in the news last week. Among the stories:
Interrogation methods used on terror suspects again became the focus of ethics debate as members of Congress began asking questions about the destruction of videotapes reportedly showing questioning of two al Qaeda operatives. The New York Times reports that the Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency’s internal watchdog have begun a joint preliminary inquiry into the destruction, which was not publicly disclosed until last week. The Washington Post reports that the CIA made videotapes in 2002 of interrogators administering harsh techniques, but destroyed the recordings three years later. A source close to the incident told the New York Times that the destruction was engineered to prevent CIA operatives from being put in legal jeopardy. Questions are being raised about whether destroying the tapes, which included footage of hundreds of hours of interrogation, was illegal or done to thwart oversight and questions, including those of the 9/11 commission.
The mortgage industry and the Bush administration agreed to a plan to help some struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure amidst the subprime mortgage crisis. MarketWatch reports that some borrowers facing spiraling mortgage rates will be able to refinance an existing loan or be moved into a loan from the Federal Housing Administration. While President Bush denied that the move was a bailout, critics continue to maintain that the program goes too far, raising the volume on what Forbes calls “the inevitable moral hazard question” — whether coming to the aid of defaulting borrowers encourages reckless lending and borrowing. Also, as the Baltimore Sun notes, the deal comes with many limitations, leading some housing advocates to charge that it does not go far enough.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wa.) faces fines and penalties of more than $800,000 for leaking a phone call he illegally taped more than 10 years ago. The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to intervene in a lower court’s ruling that McDermott acted improperly when he gave reporters access to the tape, in which Republican leaders discussed ethics charges against former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) filed the original civil suit against McDermott.
Sources: New York Times, Dec. 9 — New York Times, Dec. 7 — Washington Post. Dec. 7 — Baltimore Sun, Dec. 7 — MarketWatch, Dec. 6 — Forbes, Dec. 6 — Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 4.
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