ETHICS FOR YOU, NOT FOR ME:

Who is CREW? (The Hill, 3/30/05)

Why would any person or organization professing to believe in clean democracy object to revealing the names of the people influencing its policy?

One such is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) — a self-important moniker if ever there was one — which has repeatedly refused to tell The Hill who sits on its board of directors, unlike all eight other members of the Congressional Ethics Coalition.

CREW’s secrecy is hypocritical. Its avowed mission is to promote greater transparency in federal politics. Its website boasts, “Our aim is to encourage officials to be open about their values and to act based upon their honest and best assessment of the public interest.

“If a government agency withholds information to which the public is entitled, CREW will go to court to enforce legal rules regarding disclosure.”

Sounds fine, no? But transparency is also appropriate for an organization that is at the center of partisan disputes, such as the growing ethics war in the House of Representatives.

CREW assisted former Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) in drafting a complaint against Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) that resulted in the majority leader’s admonishment by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Just keep digging 'til you find the check from George Soros.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 30, 2005 12:02 PM