Who holds Congress accountable? A look at the invisible ethics system for lawmakers

Amna Nawaz:

Congress is charged with writing the laws that govern the rest of us, but who holds lawmakers accountable when they break the rules?

Tonight, we take a closer look at a number of sitting members of Congress facing active ethics investigations and the largely invisible and, many argue, ineffectual system that's designed to police them.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has that story.

Lisa Desjardins:

Let's start with Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales.

Of late, his seat at the Capitol is mostly empty, this after news broke of text messages showing he had a sexual relationship and seemed to pressure a married younger staff member. Regina Santos-Aviles died by suicide last fall.

Gonzales adamantly denied the affair, until last week, the day after the Republican primary.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX):

I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment and there was a lack of faith. And I take full responsibility for those actions.

Lisa Desjardins:

The affair is a clear violation of House rules. House Republicans have just a one-vote majority right now. And while a handful of them called on Gonzales to resign, GOP leaders pushed Gonzales to end his reelection campaign, but to stay in the job right now.

Question:

Tony Gonzales broke House rules. Why not ask for him to resign?

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

We put out a statement today. We will let it speak for yourself.

Lisa Desjardins:

The independent body that looks into House misconduct reportedly launched an investigation months ago. Its report first goes to the House Ethics Committee made of House members, which now is investigating too. All of that happens behind closed doors and often takes months or more.

The Gonzales case is not isolated. Multiple sitting members are under scrutiny. Florida Republican Cory Mills faces that on several fronts, an investigation into whether he solicited gifts and took government contracts while in office, a restraining order related to threats his ex-girlfriend alleges and a police investigation into a reported assault of another woman.

Mills denies wrongdoing and charges were not brought in any of these cases. But the ethics process started in the fall is still unresolved.

Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, also of Florida, was indicted on federal criminal charges that she funneled millions in COVID relief funds to her campaign. She pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a rare public trial before the House Ethics Committee later this month.

Kedric Payne, Campaign Legal Center:

We're in a situation where we need more ethics enforcement and we need more accountability when violations are found.

Lisa Desjardins:

Kedric Payne worked for the House Ethics Committee and now leads the Ethics Program at the Campaign Legal Center. He fears ethics issues in Congress have become normalized and shrugged off, dynamics he sees enforced by President Trump.

Kedric Payne:

The tone is set at the top with the White House and the entire administration is that ethics is not a priority.

Lisa Desjardins:

But now some House members are taking things into their own hands.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina is leading a charge to reveal the names of members of Congress who settled past sexual misconduct accusations and used taxpayer funds to do it. Her bill to do that was blocked on the House floor. But minutes later, she and others deployed an unusual work-around.

Woman:

This would be a subpoena for information on the sexual harassment slush fund.

Lisa Desjardins:

Pushing the House Oversight Committee to subpoena that information.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC):

So, we will get information on the slush fund, how it was paid out and by which members of Congress.

Lisa Desjardins:

Mace is both accuser and accused, currently facing an ethics investigation over whether she overbilled Congress for her housing allowance.

Now, what she wants to reveal could be a landmark event. Mace plans to release all the lawmaker names from sexual misconduct settlements from before 2019, when a new system went into place.

Ally Coll helps shepherd the new law. She herself experienced harassment from a U.S. senator as a young staffer. While Coll respects Mace as a survivor of sexual assault, she worries Mace's method could do unintended harm.

Ally Coll, Founder and CEO, The Purple Method: For people who were coming forward with information before 2019, they were told certain information about how their information would be handled. It can really undermine trust in employees coming forward if they feel like might not be true or could be changed in six or eight years from now.

Lisa Desjardins:

Speaking with lawmakers, we found there is concern that, whatever is revealed from the past, that the system now is still not working.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH):

I have learned from some staff that even when they report their case goes up in the air somewhere and nothing really happens.

Lisa Desjardins:

The House Ethics Committee did not give an on-record response to this story but consider this. The House process, however flawed, is far more accountable than the Senate's.

Kedric Payne:

Right now, if you look at just the data, you would think that all the problems are happening in one chamber, in the House. But really we don't know what we don't know in the Senate because there's nobody there to actually investigate misconduct.

Lisa Desjardins:

The Senate does not have an independent ethics process. The Ethics Committee made of senators has a staff, but its findings only become public when senators choose to release them. The committee received 181 complaints last year. We don't know who those are about.

But it has only acknowledged four investigations into specific members over the last decade.

Kedric Payne:

For the Committee on Ethics to truly investigate something, it has to be egregious and on the headlines of almost every paper, and then they will take action.

Lisa Desjardins:

And there are more issues beyond blatant law or rule breaking. Case in point, Democratic Congressman Chuy Garcia, who announced his retirement after the deadline to run for the office and after his chief of staff filed her paperwork, making her essentially the only viable Democratic candidate.

Garcia said he made his decision late because of family concerns and followed the rules, but the House did vote to rebuke him. And, while rare, that has nothing but symbolic effect.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT):

I'm grateful to God for allowing me to serve.

Lisa Desjardins:

And just last week, Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana did essentially the same thing, announcing retirement with no time for other candidates, except his preferred successor, to file. He said the state would avoid an ugly primary.

Sen. Steve Daines:

I'd rather take the arrows than other people. So, I'm happy to do it here for the sake of my state and country.

Kedric Payne:

When lawmakers don't look at their office as something that belongs to the public and to the voters, then they can go into this area where they're just looking out for themselves or for their friends.

Lisa Desjardins:

There is no effort currently to rebuke Daines.

Reformers say blueprints for a better system already exist, more transparency, independent investigators, real subpoena power and equal accountability in both chambers of the Capitol. But only Congress can decide whether to implement any of that.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.