[inaudible] what i understand, it is a growing problem, notion of not cooperating, leave a bad mark. and they're fining that people are saying is, we're just not going to cooperate. and they're left to this, a good resolution, and going to the ethics committee, and the process against, if they the subpoena power, they could get definitive answers. the same lawyers, for those parties, that urge them not to participate, in an investigation, if oce then sends a report, saying we can answer these questions, so we recommend

you pursue the investigation, those same lawyers, will say, you're using it as a negative mark. and that's part of the awkward situation. if oce had subpoena authority, it could do more research. i can think of one exam pel, there's an investigation of congressman, bill and pete, involving trips to taiwan, and it talked about how, lobbyists who were involved, refused to cooperate. this made oce's job more difficult. the point is, is to make oce's investigation as thorough as possible, without having to kick it over to the house ethics

committee. is it because they expected, oce, to be. [inaudible] well, i mean, i can only speculate, my conclusion, would be that they have been surprised, that oce has been as effective as it has been, and go ahead and pursue these investigations, and, has reached bipartisan dream, and fairly low expectations, when it first came into being. except for norm.

i do think, one of the great things that has happened, we used to have a situation, for a long time, when there were criminalization of party differences and, you would have some outside group bring a complaint, and that would be used against the member. she's under investigation, he's under investigation. and that burned a lot of people. what oce, has done, now because it has some credibility, is to clear people, at a relatively quick way, so that they don't have that cloud. now, one of the reasons they want to do that, is that, we did

manage to get and, it was just as important, transparency here, that oce reports, if the edthicks committee doesn't take any action, will get published and they would just as soon have them, not taking any action, and not include information that they might find embarrassing. so it's a dynamic that works, to improve the process, but, without at least something, to be able to get information out there, it does cloud up the process.

you have an investigation, by oce, and another investigation, by house ethics, and so, not only do you have do you mr. indication and, the whole . is to be able to provide, one, members of the public, confidence that allegations are being looked at and resolved. and for the members, the ability to say, look, somebody looked and i got a clean bill of health and i'm fine. we're caught in between, that clean bill of health, doesn't come about.

[inaudible] well, we don't want to see too much after bigger one, the larger the number, the more difficult it is and, to have an effective conversation, and i think, one of the issues, that they dealt with, oce, was dealing with some violations of lobbyists disclosure law. and that took a lot of resources, that they have reported, if they had more, they could have looked at some more of these issues. but they don't have the resources, and we're not looking for a huge increase. but it is important that we have an office that is able to pursue the facts, and not make a

decision, that we can't go there, because we don't have the staff resources. i would like to add, you know, whatever an appropriate budget would be, it is necessary, i want to repeat, the ethics process, on the senate is broken. it isn't working. if we need to create another semi independent agency, to make it workings that is really, what ises in. type of bigger changes, and take them off, why now, how do you gauge your success? well, anybody? well, this is a joke, that we're waiting for a scandal.

and this is all ready to go. usually, after scandal, there's reform. we got two votes in the senate, and the office was rejected, and soundly, and the senate, closes ranks, not on anything else. and we have to be realistic, this is not likely to happen, until there is as scandal, and it becomes clear, to a larger audience, that, the senate has no ethics process and, they're forced to move. what we want to do, is keep some pressure on, and now we have a model. it's ready when the time comes, that they can just plug it in and we'll have a better process, and it will be what we

envisioned, which really is an independent office, that can act like a grand jury, in a sense, to decide whether there's enough there. and take it to the ethics committee, and the first judge and jury, and present the evidence. and now they don't do that either. so we would love to see it refined. but, the most important thing, is to fine the opportunity to make it happen. without it, we don't have any credibility here. we all know the low polling numbers, in the approval of congress, and there's this feeling, that washington is becoming irrelevant, and nothing useful is going to happen. i think, knowing that the

senate ethics process is broken and, house needs still some improvement, one of the ways you begin to reconnect, with members of the public, you have a congress, that's good ethical standards, and a process that work. when you have a process, where allegations arise and go into the black hole, this is not a way to say the team did it, and increase congressional approval. it is part of a answer, of how you reconnect a body with the american people. trying to get them to talk about it, during the campaign season, can be healthy, so the public can see solutions, and getting this to be a important issue, that senators are talking

about. we know that right now, the committees, that write the rules, are in fact meeting. and, that is happening now. so, if we wait until january, the rules will be written. this is the period between now, and january, where the rules for the bodies are considered, and ready to go. so, now is the time. any other questions? well, i want to thank all the people and, thank you for coming, and, if you have any further questions, we'll be happy to talk to you. thank you.

good morning, in two weeks, voters will go to the polls, and early voting already underway. and in louisiana, and georgia, those senate races may not be decided until december or early january. it is sunday morning, and today's headline, the stage is set for election drama. effort to turnout obama supporters, the key to the senate. the president is meeting with his