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Some U.S. House Republicans goofed, to put it plainly, by taking steps toward eliminating an independent ethics board as one of its first congressional term actions. And Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, whose district contains much of Northwest North Carolina, was correct to vote against the wrongheaded move.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison, the Journal’s Bertrand M. Gutierrez reported. It’s not been popular. Some Congress members feel it’s been unfair. So on Monday, as the House Republican Conference geared up for the start of the 115th Congress, it held a secretive, late-night vote to test the waters for stripping the office of its independence and placing it under the control of the House Ethics Committee, the Journal reported.

This would essentially put the hens in charge of the hen house.

But not so fast, sharp observers said. Democratic legislators spoke up, as did citizens groups and President-elect Trump, who criticized the move via Twitter, suggesting that Republicans had better things to do. Some Republicans said the move would substantially weaken Congress’ only independent ethics watchdog.

And Foxx was among 74 House Republicans who voted against the change.

“While Congresswoman Foxx agrees the Office of Congressional Ethics is in need of reform, she believes that changes should be made in a bipartisan manner,” according to her spokeswoman, Sheridan Watson.

On Tuesday, the day Foxx was sworn in for her seventh term, Republicans dropped the effort.

Norman Eisen and Richard Painter of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — former ethics lawyers for presidents Obama and Bush, respectively — said it well in a press release: “Undermining the independence of the House’s Office of Congressional Ethics would create a serious risk to members of Congress, who rely on OCE for fair, nonpartisan investigations, and to the American people, who expect their representatives to meet their legal and ethical obligations.”

A cynical observer might say that Congress needs more oversight than the typical citizen. We’ll just note that they’re all human. An independent ethics oversight board is wise, and we’d say even necessary to decrease the temptation to misbehave and provide proper sanctions when misbehavior occurs.

It may be that reform is needed, as Foxx and others have stated. But Foxx is also right that reform should be accomplished on a bipartisan basis, so that an oversight office isn’t perceived to be a political bludgeon for one party to use against another. We’ve not always agreed with Foxx, but we do in this matter.

When and if reform is passed, it shouldn’t be done in the middle of the night when no one’s looking — as North Carolina has well learned by now.

Good for Foxx for standing up for transparency and accountability.

http://www.journalnow.com/opinion/editorials/our-view-foxx-is-right-on-ethics-watchdog/article_f94ae7d6-d658-5660-b6bc-e4b96fb49351.html