CQ Politics: ethics swamp not drained yet

CQ Politics takes a look at Democratic efforts for ethics reform in Congress and judges the performance as a "mixed bag."  Walz agrees:

Yet the lawmakers who ought to be most nervous about facing the voters — the “majority maker” House freshmen — say they think they can campaign on their party’s successes on ethics improvements.

“I think we have a good record to stand on,” said Rep.  Jason Altmire , D-Pa., who defeated three-term GOP incumbent Melissa A. Hart in 2006. “Ethics is a key issue for what we want to be judged by, and certainly there is more to be done.

“I think it would be difficult for someone to characterize us as being inactive on that issue,” he said.

“I think we’ve made great strides. But I would be the first to say there is much more to go,” said Rep.  Tim Walz , D-Minn., who made it into the freshman class by ousting Republican Gil Gutknecht, who served six terms.

More on that freshman class:

Many of the freshmen said they’re trying to go the extra mile on ethics. Many of them post their requested earmarks on their Web site — when the rules only require them to reveal the ones they get written into legislation or committee reports, not everything they seek.

Congressman Walz is one of those who goes the extra mile by disclosing his earmarks, a fact duly noted by the Sunlight Foundation's Earmark Disclosure Project.

The article does point out a development that must be a disappointment to Walz: the slow pace at which new House ethics panel has been seated. It was created by a House rules resolution Walz and a handful of freshman legislators proposed and shepherded toward passage in March 2008. Walz had hoped that the panelists would be picked in two months.

According to today's CQPolitics article, current freshman Class Paul Hodes hopes that Charlie Rangel's request for an investigation of his own office will goad leadership into seating the ethics panel.