Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics. He was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until 1987 and served as Assistant Majority Whip and served on the Foreign Affairs, Budget, Judiciary and District of Columbia Committees. He chaired the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Metropolitan Affairs Subcommittee of the DC Committee.

Prior to his service in Congress, Mr. Barnes practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington and was appointed Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission and Vice Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Area Transit Commission.

Subsequent to his congressional service he has practiced law as a Partner at Arent Fox, a Partner at Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and Senior Counsel to Covington & Burling. He has also served as President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and as a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy.

Mr. Barnes has also served as Lead Director and Chair of the Governance Committee of WGL Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary, Washington Gas Light Company, which provides natural gas and electricity service to more than 1,000,000 customers in Maryland, Virginia and DC.

Mr. Barnes is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studied international relations and economics at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationale in Geneva, Switzerland, and received his Juris Doctor Degree with Honors from the George Wasington University Law School where he was an Editor of the Law Review. He served six years in the United States Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve, receiving the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.