Photo by afagen.

The D.C. Council approved a sweeping ethics reform package today that would establish a new Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, tighten transparency requirements for elected officials, bar felons from running for office, strengthen oversight of city employees, and give the attorney general the power to charge elected officials accused of ethical offenses.

It also granted the Council the ability to expel its own members, a change coming at a time when the federal government is investigating both Chairman Kwame Brown and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. Under the bill’s proposed rules, it would take a votes by 11 of 13 members to remove someone from the Council.

It was the second Council vote for the bill, which passed with near unanimity. Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) was the dissenter in the 12-1 vote, saying he went against the measure because it did not go far enough. Wells tweeted his way through the session, during which many amendments were offered to the bill.

An amendement offered by Ward 2 Democrat Jack Evans would allow council members’ constituent service funds to pay for professional sports tickets. It passed, 8-5, though a followup measure to increase CSFs to $80,000 failed. Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) introduced another amendment that would change the “C” in CSF from “constituent” to “council.” It, too, was rejected.

Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) spoke rather pungently during the debate over the ethics package. At various points, he blamed journalists for the mere existence of ethics legislation, insisted there was no history of “pay-to-play” politicking in the D.C. government, and even let out some profanity from the dais.

At-Large Democrat Vincent Orange was a leading voice against council members holding outside employment, a topic perhaps best recently highlighted by the City Paper’s profile of Evans. An Orange-sponsored amendment that would bar District legislators from holding other jobs—starting in 2019—failed on a 10-3 vote, with Wells and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. joining Orange in supporting it.

Wells’ own amendments would have required council members to disclose contributions from city contractors and end CSFs altogether. They each failed, with Wells as the lone “yes” vote.

During the session, Wells let his Twitter followers that in passing what he saw as a weak bill, the Council “passed on taking sufficiently strong action to show [we’re] serious.”