The OCE's mission is "to assist the House in upholding high standards of ethical conduct for its Members, officers, and staff and, in so doing, to serve the American people"; within that framework it strives to foster transparency by keeping the public informed of its activities.
[5] At least 20 of the OCE's referrals on sitting members of the House of Representatives were published on its website in its first Congressional session of operation—a demonstration, according to The Washington Post, that the office "has taken its mission seriously.
"[6] Although the office does not have subpoena power, it has played a significant role in 2010 investigations concerning alleged ethics violations by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and former Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.)[7][8] The OCE was created by House Resolution 895 of the 110th United States Congress in March 2008,[9] in the wake of across-the-board Democratic victories in the 2006 elections.
[10][11] It was created under the leadership of then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi as part of her effort to clean up what she called the "culture of corruption" in official Washington,[12] which had garnered so much attention in the preceding congressional sessions.
[13] The office's launch and first two years were led by Leo Wise, who prior to joining the OCE, earned top honors at the United States Department of Justice where he was a member of the Enron task force that successfully prosecuted Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling and the tobacco litigation team that successfully prosecuted the civil racketeering case against the cigarette industry.
This included the multiple ethical and criminal violations stemming from, among others, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and former representatives Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Mark Foley and William J.
"[19] On January 2, 2017, one day before the 115th United States Congress was scheduled to convene for its first session, House Republicans held a "surprise vote" to effectively place the OCE under direct control of the House Ethics Committee, therefore making any future review of potential violations of criminal law by members of Congress subject to approval following referral to the Ethics Committee or an appropriate federal law enforcement agency.
"[29] House Republicans reversed their plan to gut the OCE less than 24 hours after the initial vote, under bipartisan pressure from Representatives of both parties, their constituents and the President-elect, Donald Trump.
"[33] Various government watchdog groups, like Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Accountable.US, pushed back on the GOP move.