Ethics Chief Says GOP Must Change Rules

[struggle4progress]

Tuesday April 26, 2005 11:46 PM
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House ethics committee has conceded that his Republicans colleagues must reverse partisan changes to investigative rules if they hope to break a deadlock that has virtually shut the panel down, a senior GOP aide said Tuesday.

The conclusion reached by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., may be unpopular with Republicans who muscled the changes through the House in January. Since then, GOP lawmakers have had to defend their votes against accusations by Democrats - and media editorials - that the changes were designed to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay from further investigation. <snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4964958,00.html

[MontageOfFreedom]

1. Looks like not even the most corrupt of criminals....

Can get away with fooling the american people red handed. As the ones on capital hill today find out.

[wtmusic]

2. And every once in awhile

a glimmer of hope :thumbsup:

[UCLA Dem]

3. awesome!

[Pithy Cherub]

4. Note to House Dems: Standing on Principle is a beautiful thing!

:applause: Please let it be more than a one time shot!

[zoeb]

5. House Ethics Committee???

It should be called the Delay Lack of Ethics Committee!:puke:

[MontageOfFreedom]

6. Now they can positively frame the issue.

They will say, Tom DeLay he is a traitorous democrat...He doesn't have any moral values, and those damn liberols forced him into our party to invade!

He's a traitor like voinovich, move america forward now!!!
http://www.moveamericaforward.com

**Followed by a small, undernoticed white flag being raised in the air by Newt Gingrich as he gets on the stage where they're throwing rotton vegetables.**

[bemildred]

7. "House Ethics" is an oxymoron anyway. nt

[maddezmom]

12. thought the same thing

:D

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. This is a win.

Lets have more, start a trend.

[struggle4progress]

11. Not exactly a win yet. More like a few nervous Rs forlornly trying ...

... to send a message, obliquely, to the leadership, that the current course is making them nervous. Note they lack the public nerve to disagree with their own party.

[Zorra]

9. Another "unnamed GOP aide"? Yuh. I'll believe it when I see it.

These republicans are so corrupt, most of the time they plant these positive propaganda type of stories to make the public believe they are going to do something that is actually almost decent.

So the public says, "Oh, gosh, these republicans are not as evil as I thought".

Then the corrupt creeps never follow through on the decent thing that they purportedly proposed.

Never, ever trust a republican.

[UpInArms]

10. I'll believe when I see it. ........... eom

[jefferson_dem]

13. G.O.P. Chiefs in House Weigh Vote On Ethics (D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N)

Gee...you think they're feeling a bit defensive...desperately hoping to stop the hemorrhaging??? :popcorn:

WASHINGTON, April 26 - House Republican leaders are weighing whether to allow a vote on reversing rules changes that have paralyzed the ethics committee, a move that could clear the way to an investigation of the overseas travel of Representative Tom DeLay, the majority leader, and other House members.

Lawmakers and other senior officials said Tuesday that Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other leaders are moving toward the conclusion that the only way out of the ethics impasse is to abandon the rules changes opposed by Democrats who have refused to allow the committee to get to work.

Republicans say the ethics fight, combined with the attention that has been focused on Mr. DeLay over fund-raising and travel irregularities, has not only become a distraction but also a political liability that they want to defuse.

"Obviously it is an issue that we very, very much want to address," said Representative David Dreier of California, the Rules Committee chairman, who would not discuss details of the leadership strategy.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/politics/27ethics.html

[54anickel]

14. HA! The last paragraph says it all...n/t

[Nancy Waterman]

15. Abuse of power

We must keep using the phrase "arrogant abuse of power" and attach it to the GOP.

We need to constantly connect:

the ethics committee rules changed;
the attempt to intimidate judges;
interfering with Terri Schiavo;
GOP and Frist trying to change the Senate rules by ending the filibuster;
Frist exploiting religion to gain power among the base;
tax breaks for the rich and corporate deregulation..

It is all an arrogant abuse of power and not serving the people of the country.

[struggle4progress]

18. "Arrogant abuse of power" takes too long to say.

We need middle America thinking "wacko" whenever DeLay and his buddies show their faces

[leesa]

16. WooHooo... Bastards!

[wallwriter]

17. What a bunch of f***ing scumbags

[Pirate Smile]

19. WP: GOP to Reverse Ethics Rule Blocking New DeLay Probe (flip flop)

GOP to Reverse Ethics Rule Blocking New DeLay Probe
January Change Led Democrats to Shut Down Panel

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 27, 2005; Page A01

House Republican leaders, acknowledging that ethics disputes are taking a heavy toll on the party's image, decided yesterday to rescind a controversial rule change that led to the three-month shutdown of the ethics committee, according to officials who participated in the talks.

Republicans touched off a political uproar in January by changing a rule that had required the ethics committee to continue considering a complaint against a House member if there was a deadlock between the committee's five Republicans and five Democrats. The January change reversed this, calling for automatic dismissal of an ethics complaint when a deadlock occurs.

Democrats rebelled against that and other changes -- saying Republicans were trying to protect House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) from further ethics investigations -- and blocked the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics panel is officially known, from organizing for the new Congress.

-snip-
The vote planned for later this week will mark the second time in four months that House Republicans have changed a rule but then changed it back under public pressure because the changes were perceived as designed to protect DeLay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601295.html

[rpannier]

20. How can you say it's a flip-flop

The media will always tell you when the Democrats change it's a "Flip-flop" when it's Republicans it's a well thought out position change.

[Pirate Smile]

25. Silly me! However, I do so love this:

"This will be the second time that they went home and defended a change, then we pulled the rug out from under these guys," one aide said. "We went to them and defended the changes on the merits, and then made it look like the Democrats got their way. That's a tough position to put your members in."

The aide said that the change will mean "a couple of great days for Democrats" but that Republicans have calculated that this will deny them long-term use of the ethics issue heading into next year's midterm elections.

:evilgrin:

[Renew Deal]

21. I wonder how they are going to rig the committee now.

:tinfoilhat:

[More Than A Feeling]

22. I have to say, I do believe we have won another victory

we are on a roll, for now.

[wicket]

23. FLIP FLOP! FLOP FLOP!

:kick:

[MontageOfFreedom]

24. The enemy may show no fear.......

But they know when the public is ready to lynch them and take Mr Tom DeLay outside to the green pasture.....

By the way DeLay you might want to call Abramoff, order lets just say 50 guns, it looks like you're going to need all of them? Or is that just being facetious with the scandal coming down the pike.

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. Delay is finished. What do you suppose chimp talked to him about

on that plane ride, the weather?

[MontageOfFreedom]

28. Here was his last words.

"You have become a liability....I really hate to do this, my christian friend but....The birds need a new stork to caw."

Bye bye my enthusiastic cult leader.

[proud patriot]

27. Wheeeeeeeeee !

it's been a good day

[sonias]

29. A flip flop we can all love

Good move pukes. Keep distancing yourselves from DeLay.

Sonia

[Terre]

30. Washington Post Article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601295.html

GREAT NEWS! but the GOP should never have done this in the first place.

[rocktivity]

31. This explains Georgie's sudden chumminess with DeLay

Taking him along on the Texas leg of the Social Security Bamboozle-palooza tour (complete with a groupie squealing "We love you, Tom!").

With the ethics committee back in force, all Rove and Cheney have to do now is put out the word to torpedo him--and the Bush White House will appear blameless because they gave him such a nice sendoff!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Rose Siding]

32. There's more scandal waiting even it the panel takes this up.

USA Today runs an article today (that isn't news around here) about the 10s of thousands in donations that DeLay's PAC made to EACH ethics committee repub. It's explained as "just normal" but compare it to our own squeaky clean dem...

Donations link DeLay, ethics panel
snip>
There is precedent for ethics panel members recusing themselves when such conflict issues arise. Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., stepped aside in 2002 in the case of then-senator Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., accused of financial misconduct. Reid had given $500 to Torricelli's legal defense fund. "Recusal is pretty much an individual choice, if there is any possibility of a conflict of interest," said Donald Ritchie, a Senate historian.

Kenneth Gross, an attorney who has represented Democrats and Republicans on ethics issues, said the financial ties on the committee could be a problem. "I would advise the committee not to use a member who had received contributions from DeLay's leadership PAC to head the investigation," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050427/pl_usatoday/donationslinkdelayethicspanel

Harry recused himself over 500 bucks! DeLay contribute FIFTEEN grand to Hart *alone*.

Who are they gonna get to HEAR the complaints?

[wicket]

33. kick

:kick: