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A recent study found that of the 1,523 complaints sent to the Senate Ethics Committee since 2007, zero resulted in any formal disciplinary sanctions over 15 years. This is a pervasive ethics enforcement problem in the U.S. Senate that has flown under the radar for far too long, and it will only become worse unless we put a stop to the status quo of self-policing. Public trust in government requires that elected and appointed officials are held accountable for their actions. Without accountability, trust deteriorates, and corruption, or at least the appearance of it, is allowed to flourish while the public is left in the dark.
Campaign Legal Center has been fighting to make ethics enforcement the norm rather than the exception in the Senate, so illegal practices like insider stock trading, undisclosed travel, receipt of banned gifts from lobbyists, personal use of campaign funds, and fundraising in the Capitol can finally be a distant memory. Each time the Senate Ethics Committee fails to truly investigate misconduct and hold members accountable, it establishes a dangerous precedent that self-interested, corrupt behavior by our elected officials is acceptable and wrongdoers will face no consequences.
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