Legislative Ethics

The following recommendations to reform the rules of the House of Representatives will do much to restore the capacity, incentives, and capability of representatives to fulfill their roles as legislators.

We submit for your consideration the following ten principles for reforming the rules of the House of Representatives

“I don't recall ever seeing a president going so vociferously after the spouses of civil servants,” said Stephen Spaulding, with the non-partisan good government organization Common Cause. “On the Hill, disclosure rules might apply to an immediate family member. Nothing we have seen in the past is comparable to what we are seeing with Trump and especially out of the White House. And these are absolutely smear tactics. You see a pattern of behavior where he is absolutely willing to go after spouses of people.”

“I don’t really see a lot of gray area here,” said Paul Seamus Ryan, a campaign law expert and vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause in Washington, D.C. “There appears to me to be an awful lot of expenses that the Hunters were indicted for that aren’t allowed by the FEC, and aren’t close calls at all.”

“Legislatures have become much more brazen in trying to undo what the constituents put in place,” said Elena Nunez, director of state operations and ballot measure strategies at Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog group. “It has become a more heightened attack. That’s a troubling trend.”

“Despite the state’s ethics laws, McGuireWoods’ wealthy clients will be able to buy a lot of access and influence through Mr. Howell — access and influence not available to the average Virginian,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause.