Ethics, the economy and energy were hot topics as U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers met with Cornerstone students on Feb. 20.

Following a brief luncheon with CU President Joe Stowell and university board members, the congressman, R-Grand Rapids, conducted a question and answer time with history and journalism students in a Bolthouse Hall lecture hall.

Ehlers opened the discussion handing out copies of an article from The Grand Rapids Press that accused him of raising money to pay for a painting of himself that would hang in a committee room in the U.S. Capitol.

The article reported that Washington, D.C. ethics groups have speculated that Ehlers’ decision-making could be influenced by lobbyists who were raising money for the portrait.

Ehlers emphasized that he was not raising money for a portrait and that friends in the Grand Rapids area decided to raise money.

He claimed that The Press had picked up the article from a “less than honorable paper” in Washington D.C.

“I never knew how much I valued my integrity and my ethics till I got into politics,” Ehlers said. “It’s really important to me to defend my reputation.”

Ehlers called journalism students to respect the subjects of their articles by accurately reporting the news.

“As journalists, what you write tends to be believed by the public so you jolly well better get it right,” Ehlers said.

Ehlers also stressed that, amid Congress’ reputation for being crooked, the people he works with are “by and large decent people.” He said that his fellow congressmen are moral not only because they fear bad press, but also because many are Christians.

“There’s a lot of believers in Congress. You tend not to know about it because the nonbelievers tend to be the loudest,” he said. “No one has ridiculed me because of my faith.”

Ehlers also spent time explaining to students the power of political parties in Congress and the affects of having a democrat-controlled capitol.

“The party in control – they’re literally in control,” Ehlers said. “The democrats pretty much feel they don’t need us anymore and can do what they want.”

Ehlers said that this is especially evident in the passing of the $787 billion economic stimulus – a bill that, when came to vote, had the congress divided down party lines.

“No one put a motion on the floor for all republicans to vote against it. We just thought it was a lousy bill,” Ehlers said. “When only 17 percent goes to creating jobs, it can hardly be called a job creation bill.”

Ehlers also fielded questions concerning energy sources and said that he had mixed feelings about off-shore drilling for oil.

“I worry about it because I am a staunch environmentalist, but at the same time I haven’t seen any proof that it’s dangerous,” he said. “All I know is that there’s a tremendous amount of damage if the oil drills do leak.”

Rather, Ehlers emphasized the importance of pursuing alternative sources of energy, specifically nuclear power.

Ehlers, who was invited to campus by journalism adjunct professor Bob Becker, said that he does not remember every turning down an invitation to speak at a school, college or university.

“Education is extremely important and the public has a right to hear what I have to say to better understand government and to be better informed,” Ehlers said.

Becker, who is a long-time friend of Ehlers’, said that he asked the congressman to visit so that CU students and faculty would be exposed to important people in the community.

“I see kind of a cloister attitude here where we’re a fixed community on the Beltline,” Becker said. “I think we need to reach out to the movers and shakers in the community and let them know we’re here.”