mna: Who hold lawmakers accountable when they break facing active ethics investigations and the largely amenable and many argue ineffectual system designed to police them.

Our congressional correspondent has that story.

Lisa: Let's start with Texas congressman Tony Gonzalez.

Hadley, his seat is mostly empty after news broke of text messages showing he had a sexual relationship and seemed to pressure a married younger staff member.

She died by suicide last fall.

Gonzalez adamantly denied the affair until last week, the day after the Republican primary.

>> I made a mistake and I had a lapse in judgment and I take full responsibility for those actions.

Lisa: The affair is a clear violation of house rules.

House Republicans have just a one-vote majority right now and while a handful of them called on Gonzales to resign, GOP leaders pushed him to end his reelection campaign, but to stay in the job right now.

>> Tony Gonzales broke house rules, why not ask for him to resign?

Lisa: The independent body that looks into house misconduct reportedly launched an investigation months ago.

It's report first goes to the house ethics committee made of house members which is investigating.

All of that happens behind closed doors and often takes months or more.

The Gonzalez case is not isolated.

Multiple sitting members are under scrutiny.

Florida Republican Cory mills faces it on several fronts, an investigation into whether he solicited gifts, a restraining order and a police investigation into a reported assault of another woman.

Mills denies wrongdoing and charges were not brought in any of those cases, but the ethics process started in the fall is still unresolved.

Democratic congresswoman indicted on federal criminal charges that she funneled millions and covid really fun to her campaign.

She pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a where a public trial before the health of the committee later this month.

>> We need more ethics enforcement and accountability when violations are found.

Lisa: The ethics program at the campaign legal center, he fears ethics issues have become normalized and shrugged off, dynamic CC and forced by president trump.

>> The tone that is at the top with the white house and the entire administration is that ethics is not a priority.

Lisa: Congresswoman Nancy mace is leading a charge to reveal the names of members of congress who settled past sexual misconduct allegations and used taxpayer funding to do it.

For bill to do that was blocked on the house floor, but minutes later she and others deployed an unusual workaround.

>> We want a subpoena on the sexual harassment slush fund.

Lisa: Pushing the house committee to subpoena the slush fund.

>> I want information on how it was paid out.

Lisa: She is accuser and accused, currently facing an ethics investigation over whether she overbilled congress for her housing allowance.

What she wants to reveal could be a landmark event.

She plans to release all the lawmaker names from sexual misconduct comments from before 2019 when a new system went into place.

She herself experienced harassment as a young staffer.

While she respects Nancy mace as a survivor, she worries the method could do unintended harm.

>> For people who were coming forward with information, they were told certain information about how their information is handled and it could undermine trust in employees coming forward if it could be changed in six or eight years from now.

Isa: We found there is concern that whatever is revealed from the past, that the system now is still not working.

>> I learned from some staff that even when they report nothing really happens.

Isa: Consider this, the house process, however flawed is far more accountable than the senate.

>> If you look at the data you would think all the problems are happening in the house.

We really don't know what we don't know when the senate because there is nobody to investigate.

Lisa: The senate does not have an independent ethics process, there is the staff, but the findings only become public when senators choose to release them.

He senate received 181 complaints but has only investigated four investigations over the last decade.

>> For the committee to investigate something it has to be egregious and then they will take action and on the headlines of every paper.

Lisa: There are more issues beyond blatant law and rule breaking, case in point democratic congressman Garcia who announced his retirement after the deadline and after his chief of staff filed her paperwork, making her essentially the only viable democratic candidate.

Garcia said he made his decision late and follow the rule, but the house did vote to rebuke him and while rare, that has nothing but symbolic effect.

>> I'm grateful to god for allowing me to serve.

Lisa: Just last week Republican senator Steve Daines did essentially the same thing, announcing retirement with no time for other candidates except his preferred successor to file.

He said the state would avoid an ugly primary.

>> I would rather take the arrows for the sake of my state and country.

>> When lawmakers don't look as their office as something that runs through the public they can go into this area where they are looking out for their friends.

Lisa: There is no effort currently to rebuke Danes.

Blueprints already exist for better systems.

More transparency and equal accountability.

But only congress can decide whether to implement that.

I'm Lisa Desjardins for the pbs news hour.