Boehner, Tea Party May Clash Over Ethics Office

Political ethics represents a major issue for the tea party movement. And incoming House Speaker John Boehner may diverge from tea party views in his home state of Ohio over the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), The Hill reports.

The Ohio Liberty Council, which encompasses 58 tea party organizations in the state, wants to strengthen the OCE. It warns House GOP leaders that any effort to weaken OCE will put them at odds with tea partyers.

Boehner has long opposed the ethics office, and many experts expect him to work toward disbanding it or at least seriously weakening it. But his spokesman Michael Steel says, “We haven’t made a decision with regard to the OCE. As you know, the only group of members publicly calling for it to be shut down at this point are Democrats.”