Ethics in Government Featured in Week’s News
Mar 3rd, 2008 • Posted in: NewsIn Canada, two scandals are in the headlines; U.S. House is the venue for debate over independent ethics monitor as well as probes into two sitting congressmen; White House aide resigns after admitting he plagiarized newspaper columns
VARIOUS DATELINES
Ethics news figured in headlines from Ottawa, Washington, and elsewhere last week. Among the stories:
- Canada’s government is embroiled in an ethics scandal involving allegations that members of the Conservative Party offered a bribe to a dying member of Parliament two months before an important vote in 2005, the Globe & Mail reports. The conservatives, hoping to topple Canada’s Liberal government with a no-confidence vote in May 2005, allegedly tried to buy the vote of Independent MP Chuck Cadman, who was dying of cancer. The purported bribe was a $1 million life insurance policy, something Cadman ordinarily would have been unable to secure due to his illness, reports the National Post. Cadman’s widow made the charge, saying her husband angrily refused the offer. The charges were emphatically denied by Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, a member of the Conservative party, who is accused of knowing of and condoning the alleged bribery attempt.
- Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, under the microscope for allegations he accepted money from a German-Canadian arms lobbyist during his final days in office, last week retracted his demand for a public inquiry into the claims. According to the Toronto Star, Mulroney’s attorney said the former prime minister now wants to “turn the page.” A decision on whether the inquiry will take place has yet to be made, and a Commons ethics committee last week recommended that the government convene a formal public probe. Mulroney has maintained that the allegations are a political smear.
- A proposal for an independent, external ethics board to monitor the U.S. House of Representatives remains in limbo, CBS News reports. The measure is stalled while House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) considers a proposed change in initiating ethics complaints. According to CBS, the current haggling concerns a proposal to require bipartisan support in order to initiate any ethics probe.
- The internal House ethics committee is still in business, though, agreeing last week to open a probe into whether Arizona Republican Rick Renzi has violated any laws, rules, or standards of conduct, the Arizona Republic reports. Renzi has been indicted on 35 criminal counts including extortion, embezzlement, and money laundering related to a land deal. Prosecutors also say he stole from an insurance trust fund. The House ethics committee could recommend censure or expulsion, but it is not uncommon for the committee to defer action while a court case is under way. Renzi, who denies any wrongdoing, has stated he will not run for reelection, but so far has resisted calls that he resign.
- In a separate probe, the House is scheduled to hear an ethics case against Rep. Thomas Wright (D-N.C.) this week. The Charlotte Observer reports that a county judge last week rejected Wright’s request for a restraining order to halt the ethics hearings. Wright is under indictment for fraud and obstruction of justice related to “loans for his foundation, charitable contributions, and his failure to report $185,000 in campaign contributions,” reports the Winston-Salem Journal. Wright argues that the North Carolina constitution does not grant legislators the power to judge and punish one of their own, according to the Observer. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Wright denies any wrongdoing.
- A White House aide resigned last week after admitting that he plagiarized material for his newspaper columns. Tim Goeglein joined the White House staff in 2001, serving as a key liaison between the administration and various conservative and religious groups. Outed by a blogger, Goeglein last week admitted that he copied material for many of his columns published in the Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Journal-Gazette said it found instances of plagiarism in more than half of Goeglein’s 30 columns published in the past eight years. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel upped the count after further investigation to 27 of the 30 columns. Contacted by the paper, Goeglein “attributed the plagiarism to shortcomings in his character: ‘Pride. Vanity. It’s all my fault.’”
Sources: News-Sentinel, Mar. 3 — Globe & Mail, Mar. 1 — Toronto Star, Mar. 1 — New York Times, Mar. 1 — Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Mar. 1 — Arizona Republic, Mar. 1 — Charlotte Observer, Mar. 1 — UPI, Mar. 1 — CBC, Feb. 29 — National Post, Feb. 28 — CBS News, Feb. 28 — Winston-Salem Journal, Feb. 11.
For more information, see: Related Newsline Commentary, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 18 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 4 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 3, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 27, 2007.
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