By Keith Howard

With the help of a Somerville democrat, Congress is taking steps to restore public faith in the government.

The passage of House Resolution 895 will give the Office of Congressional Ethics, a newly created body within the House, power to investigate ethical violations of its representatives, delegates, officers and employees.

The six-member board-split equally between Republican and Democratic appointees-will be able to investigate any House member, as long as at least one board member from each party agrees.

‚ÄúBasically the presumption is that everybody in Congress is here to protect our friends. That’s just not the case. That’s never been the case. I think public presumption is that it is,‚Äù said Congressman Michael E. Capuano, who lead the effort.

Capuano said the newly created ethics office will make any actions against members of Congress more transparent.

He is the chair of the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement, which was established in January by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner and charged with considering whether to create an independent ethics enforcement entity.

‚ÄúIn the first days of 110th Congress, a bipartisan majority passed landmark reforms to restore accountability, honesty, and openness to the House of Representatives,‚Äù Pelosi said in a statement. 

According to Capuano, this approach to improve ethics enforcement will improve the reputation of the House and will break the appearance of an “old boy network” forever.

“We broke the link between lobbyist and legislators and set our country back on a path to fiscal discipline. These strong rules are significant steps toward honest leadership; enforcing these rules is critical to ensuring every Member of Congress lives up to the highest ethical standard,” Pelosi said.

The recommendations included in the task force report represent the most dramatic progress in years in the drive to strengthen ethics enforcement in the House, reads a press release from Capuano’s office.

In the past, the House ethics committees only investigated complaints made by other House members. This new resolution will ban lobbyists, members of Congress or congressional candidates from serving on the panel.

A majority board vote will have the power to send the matter for further action to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and recommend whether the committee should review any allegations.

‚ÄúI’m trying to get closer to a situation like a judicial system. Most people know that the judicial system works reasonably well. People here have faith in the judicial system and I’d like them to feel the same way about Congress,‚Äù said Capuano.