Panel Backs Congress Exemption From Law on Conflict of Interest

President Bush’s ethics commission agreed Tuesday that members of Congress should continue to be exempt from the basic conflict of interest law that prohibits making government decisions for personal gain.

Although Bush charged the panel last month with finding standards that are “equitable all across the three branches of the federal government,” panel members concluded that members of Congress could not be put under the same constraints as judges and executive branch employees.

The members did, however, call for broader public disclosure of the assets held by members of Congress so the public could decide if votes were cast or bills were introduced for private reasons.

The eight-member panel has until March 9 to recommend to Bush any legislative or administrative changes to stiffen and standardize federal ethics enforcement.

The basic federal conflict of interest law, known as section 208 of the criminal code, makes it a crime for an executive branch employee to take any government action in which he or his immediate family has a financial interest. The top penalty is two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Judges are separately prohibited from hearing any case involving any of their assets.

Former Atty. Gen. Griffin Bell told fellow panel members: “This is the toughest thing we’re going to have to deal with.”

Former White House counsel Lloyd N. Cutler said: “If you apply 208 to Congress, you get into impossible questions. What does a farmer do on farm issues? What does any member do on tax legislation? Everyone pays taxes. Maybe disclosure of the interest is all you can do.”