Democracy 21 Joins with Reform Groups in Call for House Judiciary to Pass “Clean Up Government Act” Tomorrow

Today, Democracy 21 joined with other reform groups to urge members of  the House Committee on the Judiciary to pass the bipartisan “Clean Up Government Act of 2011” (H.R. 2572).  

This critical legislation would, among other things, restore important tools for federal prosecutors fighting public corruption by strengthening the Honest Services and illegal gratuities statutes.  

The groups that sent a letter today to Judiciary Committee members include: the Campaign Legal Center, CREW, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Public Campaign, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

The Committee is set to markup H.R. 2572 tomorrow, Thursday December 1 at 10:00am.
 
According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer, "The proposed legislation is crucial to closing gaping loopholes in the nation’s anti-corruption laws that have made it extremely difficult to prosecute public officials for misusing their office for personal gain or engaging in fraudulent or deceptive practices."

H.R. 2572, in part, responds to last year’s Supreme Court decision in Skilling v. United States, which eliminated an entire category of deceptive, fraudulent and corrupt conduct from the scope of what was known as the Honest Services statute.  This new legislation restores that statute in line with the Court’s direction for more clarity.  In addition, the bill would address the damage done to the illegal gratuities statute by the courts to ensure that public officials may not accept gifts given because of their governmental position. The legislation also would make clear that public officials who accept private compensation for using  the powers their jobs afford them are subject to prosecution.  

Identical bipartisan legislation (S. 401) has already passed out of committee in the Senate Judiciary, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).