To The Editor,
On Monday night, the Republican house delegation voted to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics by a secret vote. Under the Republican proposal, the office would no longer be an independent body, and would be controlled by the House Ethics Committee and the majority party’s leaders. Changes would also be made that the office could no longer make independent public statements, outside of the partisan House Ethics Committee.
These changes would make it easier for the majority Republican congressional leaders to hide ethics violations within their own party.
One of the supporters of the change was Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois. Congressman Roskam was under investigation by the office after he accepted a gift during a trip to Taiwan. Several other Republican congressmen that had been under investigation by the office have also supported the change made by the GOP delegation.
After President-elect Donald Trump denounced the changes on Tuesday House congressional leaders removed the changes from the rules package and the office will remain the same.
Because the vote was held by secret ballot we will not know the votes of each Republican member of congress unless they publicly announce their position. Currently one of Chester County’s representatives Ryan Costello has failed to announce whether he supported weakening the oversight over his office and the office of other congressional officials.
We must call upon Congressman Costello to publicly share his vote, and tell his constituents of the sixth congressional district whether he believes his office should fall under independent review.
Kevin Burk
Charlestown
