Ever since the semi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics was created two years ago to vet allegations against lawmakers, cynics wondered how soon it would fall into the find-no-evil track record of the House ethics committee it serves. The new office showed encouraging initiative this week when it released a report that would have been buried from public notice under the old way of doing business.
The office found grounds to suspect that former Representative Nathan Deal, a Republican of Georgia, improperly used his Capitol office and chief of staff to put pressure on state officials to protect hundreds of thousands of dollars his auto salvage company was making every year from the state vehicle inspection program. Mr. Deal denied the allegation and another finding that he had improperly concealed the fact that his salary from the company violated ethics standards.