The Roundtable has noted the use of privately sponsored travel by House members … including questioning why Erik and Cassandra Paulsen’s privately sponsored trips to Ireland and Ethiopia, werenot listed on Congressman Paulsen’s Personal Financial Disclosure filing.

Turns out that the Ethics Committee, behind closed doors and without any public announcement, had quietly deleted the disclosure requirement.

Media reports of the Committee’s decision prompted a stern reaction from Mike Obermueller, candidate for Minnesota’s Second District :

Obermueller Calls on Kline to Oppose New Loophole on Congressional Travel Perks “While the Republican House recklessly impedes progress on bills that would create jobs or stimulate the economy, to no one’s surprise, yesterday they made time to change the rules to benefit themselves. You know who isn’t benefiting from this change? The working families in this district. They want Congress working on an increase in the minimum wage and making sure college is affordable. All this change does is minimize accountability and transparency in our representation in Washington, D.C. I’m ready to get to work, not spend my time securing special interest funded travel. Congressman Kline should join me in opposing this loophole that is intended to reduce oversight and transparency.”

The incumbent, John Kline, has made no statement on the request … but Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA-08), who will face Democratic challenger Kevin Strouse this November, did.

By featuring lobbyists and ethics, Kevin Strouse may have pushed the issue

.@RepFitzpatrick still refuses to disclose his meetings with lobbyists — What does he have to hide? #PeopleNotBanks — Kevin Strouse (@StrouseForPA) July 2, 2014

Responding quickly to the news media’s reporting of changes to the requirement of reporting privately sponsored travel, Congressman Fitzpatrick announced that he would author a resolution that would have forced the Ethics Committee to overturn their decision.

And just as quickly, Ethics Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX-11) appeared on the Brian and Leland morning radio show in Brownwood Texas saying :

“I screwed up, I fixed it, moving on.”

“It was a wrong decision and we’re going to fix it.” Chairman Conaway said announcing that Members would have between 15 and 30 days to amend their filings to include the free trips that they received from private sponsors in 2013.

Representative Fitzpatrick reacted with a press release :

“I applaud the Ethics Committee for their swift decision to overturn the changes to the travel disclosure requirements for members of Congress. In these times of heightened partisanship, it is important to recognize that Representatives from both sides of the aisle joined to express their wishes to be held to a higher standard,” said Congressman Fitzpatrick.

Let’s applaud Mike Obermueller and Kevin Strouse for pushing the Republicans to take action … now, let’s push John Kline and Mike Fitzpatrick to co-sponsor Mike Quigley’s (D-IL-05) H.R. 4245: Transparency in Government Act of 2014 as well as Jackie Speier’s (D-CA-14) H.R. 5011 : Making Every Representative’s Integrity Transparent Act of 2014 (MERIT Act).

Failure to be honest with the taxpayers of congressional “perks” is deplorable, but changing the rules to hid it, just proves why the approval rating for the House is so low … obviously, to change Washington, voters have to elect candidates who promote transparency and not lobbyists.