With what I am about to write, you might think I woke up this morning in a bad mood, but I am not. The sun came up in the East, and I am standing on the right side of the Earth. Yeah, I feel pretty good, great even. I won’t lie; getting back to the standard routine of work has been, strangely enough, relaxing. Perhaps I am wired a little too tightly.
With that said, you could have knocked me over with a feather, a small one at that, this week when I read one of the first things the new Congress, the GOP controlled Congress, did was to attempt to overhaul the Office of Congressional Ethics. As the Wall Street Journal reported first thing on Tuesday 1/3/2017:
“House Republicans are moving to eliminate the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the chamber’s nonpartisan ethics board, in a move that has triggered swift pushback from Democrats and government watchdog groups.
‘Democrats created the Office of Congressional Ethics in March 2008, after they took control of Congress in 2007, saying they wanted to help clean up Congress and make the ethics process more transparent. If the office believes it has found violations, its job is to recommend a formal investigation by the traditional House Ethics Committee. …Read More…
The opinions expressed within this report are those of John Norris as of the initial publication of this blog. They are subject to change without notice, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oakworth Capital Bank, its directors, shareholders, and employees.