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II. General Ethical Standards
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.
– Henry Clay[1]
[1] Speech at Ashland, Kentucky, March 1829. Henry Clay was Speaker of the House of Representatives during 1811-1814, 1815-1820, and 1823-1825.
That “public office is a public trust” has long been a guiding principle of government.[2] To uphold this trust, Congress has bound itself to abide by certain standards of conduct, expressed in the Code of Official Conduct (House Rule 23)[3] and the Code of Ethics for Government Service.[4] These codes provide that Members, officers, and employees are to conduct themselves in a manner that will reflect creditably on the House, work earnestly and thoughtfully for their salary, and that they may not seek to profit by virtue of their public office, allow themselves to be improperly influenced, or discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors. This chapter discusses the overarching principles that inform both codes, the penalties for violating their provisions, and the history and procedures of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
[2] Code of Ethics for Government Service ¶ 10, H. Con. Res. 175, 72 Stat., pt. 2, B12 (adopted July 11, 1958) (contained in the appendices to this Manual). This creed, the motto of the Grover Cleveland administration, has been voiced by such notables as Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)), Charles Sumner (speech, U.S. Senate (May 31, 1872)), as well as Henry Clay (seenote 1, supra).
[3] House rules are formally referenced by Roman numerals. For ease of reading, this manual uses the more familiar Arabic numerals throughout. All citations are to the House rules for the 110thCongress, unless specifically stated otherwise.
[4] See note 2, supra.
Appropriate standards of conduct enhance the legislative process and build citizen confidence. “Ethics rules, if reasonably drafted and reliably enforced, increase the likelihood that legislators (and other officials) will make decisions and policies on the basis of the merits of issues, rather than on the basis of factors (such as personal gain) that should be irrelevant.” [5] Members, officers, and employees should, at a minimum, familiarize themselves with the Code of Official Conduct and the Code of Ethics for Government Service. The Code of Official Conduct and the Code of Ethics for Government Service not only state aspirational goals for public officials, but violations of provisions contained therein may also provide the basis for disciplinary action in accordance with House rules.
[5] Congressional Ethics Reform: Hearings Before the Bipartisan Task Force on Ethics, U.S. House of Representatives, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 113 (1989) (statement of Dennis F. Thompson, Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy in the Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Government, Harvard University, and Director of the Harvard University Program in Ethics and the Professions).
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