Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, pledged to drain the swamp of dirty politics in Congress when she took office a few years ago.  She said that she wanted to preside over the most ethical Congress in history.

Since she took office, the Office of Congressional Ethics has been very serious about fulfilling her mission and  their responsibilities.

Currently, there are two high profile ethics cases and charges involving longstanding veterans of the House: New York Representative Charles Rangel, and  California Representative Maxine Waters. Aan earlier ethics case involving Nevada Senator, John Ensign,  is still proceeding.

The question is this: what should the ethical role of ethics offices  in politics be?  

Further, what about their role at the state and local levels? For example, Ypsilanti has an ethics policy for officeholders.  Ann Arbor does not.

How ethically effective are ethics policies and ethics offices in local politics? Can they clean the swamp of the murky and muddied waters of dirty politics?