Berman Accepts Seat on House Ethics Committee

Rep. Howard L. Berman, heeding the pleas of party leaders, agreed Tuesday to join the House Ethics Committee as its ranking Democrat.

Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt prevailed on a reluctant Berman, a respected eight-term Democrat from Panorama City, to serve on the panel, regarded as one of the least-coveted duties in Congress.

The panel has the ticklish responsibility of sitting in judgment on erring House members--sometimes friends and acquaintances.

“Members have never competed for the privilege of serving on the Ethics Committee, and I am no exception. Condolences are appropriate,” Berman said, only half in jest.

He joins the committee in a period of transition. After a Congress in which a spiraling number of complaints were filed--and a pitched battle was waged over Speaker Newt Gingrich’s ethical lapses that seared partisan nerve endings--both parties say the panel, now chaired by Republican Rep. James V. Hansen of Utah, will strive to regain a sense of comity.

Known as a sharp but fair partisan, Berman said he will leave partisanship out of his Ethics Committee work.

“I am charged, together with Chairman Hansen . . . with helping to restore the Ethics Committee to its rightful position as an impartial arbiter of legitimate complaints,” Berman said.

He will retain his seats on the Judiciary and International Relations committees.

The Ethics Committee, unlike other House panels, has an equal number of members--five--from each party. Often members carry over from Congress to Congress. But given the rancor that characterized the committee’s last two years, the panel will probably be stocked with fresh faces.

Gephardt said all Democratic members will be new. A spokesman for GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey said only one Republican member, Rep. Steven Schiff of New Mexico, is in line to rejoin the panel. But it is unclear whether he will be asked to perform another tour of duty.

Both parties hope to name the remaining members of the panel later this week.

In the wake of bitter political infighting on the committee over the Gingrich affair, Gephardt and Armey also plan to name a task force of members to review committee rules and make recommendations on how to improve its procedures.

“The process is in tatters,” Berman said. “It’s just one part of an increasingly confrontational Congress in the past two years.”