LaHood weighs in on congressional moves against independent ethics office

Posted on January 4, 2017
Darin LaHood
Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) was sworn into Congress for his first full term on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Darin LaHood)

By RFD Radio/WFMB

WASHINGTON – U.S. House Republicans turned a deaf ear to their top leaders and voted this week to take some of the bite out of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.

That office was launched in 2008 after corruption cases sent three members of Congress to jail. U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood disagreed with the vote, but the Peoria Republican differs with the message more than the result.

“Before, we had two ethics processes, it was very confusing and cumbersome in a lot of ways and so this was a way to make it more efficient,” LaHood said. “In the overall grand scheme of things it was a very minor thing.”

Republicans later scrapped plans to reign in the independent office after President-elect Trump criticized the move on Twitter.

LaHood was sworn on Tuesday for his first full term in Washington.

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