WP: GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in '06

[Pirate Smile]

GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in '06

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 6, 2005; Page A01

ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- After enlarging their majority two elections in a row, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members' travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year's midterm races.

In what Republican strategists call "the DeLay effect," questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders' troubles.

Among those endangered are at least two committee chairmen and several other senior members. Congressional districts that traditionally have been safe for Republicans could become more competitive, according to party officials.

Nowhere is the impact of the ethics issue clearer than here in the Appalachian hills of eastern Ohio, where a thicket of weekly newspapers now gives regular coverage to revelations about House Administration Committee Chairman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and his ties to DeLay and Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist now under criminal and congressional investigation for the tens of millions of dollars in fees he and a partner collected from casino-owning Indian tribes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060501223.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. LOL!!! Gee! Ya think?? n/t

[Pirate Smile]

5. The entire article is worth the read. Here is more:

"Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that although a particular member's conduct matters only in that person's specific race, the Democrats plan to make "an overarching theme" of the influence that special interests have gained over the legislative process. Republicans are responding with what they call a "muddy-the-water strategy," in which they encourage news coverage about Democrats' ties to Abramoff, and about Democratic travel that was coordinated with lobbyists.

In the strip malls and along the Cumberland Road where Model T's once caravanned west, Ney's constituents said that they have been shocked by the revelations and that they are starting to wonder whether he is really who they thought he was. Joseph E. Wagner, 60, a Republican and owner of a sports club, has always voted for Ney and recently shook the congressman's hand at a National Rifle Association banquet. But now he is disappointed.

"I'm beginning to think they just ought to bomb every politician out there," Wagner said over a scrambled-egg breakfast at the TeeJay's diner in Zanesville, in the Ohio Valley west of Pittsburgh. "He's just gotten completely out of control. He just got involved with the wrong people."

I'm glad Emanuel is in charge of the House Dem's Congressional Committee. He plays hardball.

[Cha]

9. This guy plays rough, too.

"I'm beginning to think they just ought to bomb every politician out there," Wagner said over a scrambled-egg breakfast at the TeeJay's diner in Zanesville, in the Ohio Valley west of Pittsburgh. "He's just gotten completely out of control. He just got involved with the wrong people."

[fob]

35. I don't see why Mr Wagner would have a problem it seems he's the

proto-typical repuke voter. Notice his last sentence, it's not Ney's fault, he "just got involved with the wrong people". Geez, it's a wonder this guy knows what the word ethics mean. Take some fucking RESPONSIBILITY you "blameless" fuck-ass repukes!

[Supersedeas]

33. Yea, ya mean Family Value and Ethics might be equated

[unhappycamper]

2. I wasn't aware they had ethics. n/t

[proud patriot]

3. darn it I was hoping they wouldn't be worried

:think:

[Pirate Smile]

11. Yes, I was also hoping they would continue on clueless.

[lovuian]

4. Well they are thieves and they know it!!!

If you don't get elected you don't get those big checks and trips!!!

[sasquatch]

6. Don't worry guys, Biden will bash any democrat who takes on Delay

:argh:

[Cha]

7. Uuuoooo...now we got a little

"infighting" in the repubs goin' on!

Edit~ Recommended!

[Pirate Smile]

14. Now we just need a scandal or leak that would blow a hole in the

partnership between the social conservatives and the Republican's corporate masters. Hmmmm. A girl can dream, right?

:evilgrin:

[Cha]

17. At least L&O and SNL aren't

afraid to take on the tactics used by the heavyhandedhammer.

[glitch]

34. Anybody who would stick through Abu Ghraib would stick through anything

so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the "social conservatives" or their corporate masters to break it off.

I now believe "social conservative" is just another cover for same old same old greed. They can't say they are republicans because they are greedy, so they say it's because they are "social conservatives".

Uh huh.

[alarimer]

8. Note they are not talking about actually being honest

This "ethics problem" is only a problem of spin. They could pledge complete and total openness (not that we would believe them) or pledge to doing away with corporate graft but instead they only want to change the message.

[Pithy Cherub]

10. May republican worries about their lapsed ethics

increase exponentially! Oh dear, that means they may have to stop backing little 'w' because the seriously voting public is getting upset. :freak: What to do, what to do...

May the ethically-challenged republican unraveling commence! The handwringing in public is GREAT! :popcorn:

[AlCzervik]

12. Wow!! The gop better get the koolaid and find the last train to Jonestown

[bearfan454]

13. GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in '06 - Ya right !

Diebold going down is the only thing that can hurt the pukes in 06.

[cmd]

15. I'm dreaming of a new congressman

I hope the dems are willing to put some cash behind our candidate this time. We do have a chance to say nay to Ney.

[Olney Blue]

16. "The DeLay Effect"

Bring it on!


:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Hatalles]

20. "The DeLay Effect" meaning the GOP staffers want to minimize the effect.

They want to keep isolate 'ethics problems' to simply 'Tom Delay.'

[Pirate Smile]

25. Well, then we need a broader catch-phrase for them that doesn't limit

the corrupt stink to Delay but instead sprays them all with it.

Any ideas?

[EFerrari]

26. I guess "crooks and liars" has been taken. n/t

[Hatalles]

30. I like the sound of "The GOP Ethics Scandal."

eom

[ima_sinnic]

18. the Party of Morals is having ethics problems??!! who woulda thunk it?

:eyes:

[Triana]

19. It should have hurt them LONG before now...

...had we not such a complacent public and complicit media.

[gatlingforme]

21. The shitheads are thinking ahead? that's weird.

[Arkana]

22. And the ship begins to sink...

[ailsagirl]

23. The light finally dawns... ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

they're not so fast on the uptake after all!!!

:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

24. That's hilarious

I guess every crime family goes through that stage.

[Mz Pip]

27. Bullshit

They don't give a rat's ass about any ethics violations. They are just paying lip service to make it seem like they care. If they really cared they would be demanding DeLay resign. Don't see that happening.

They are counting on no one paying attention and given the way things have been going they can take that to the bank. I am serioulsy convinced the majority of the American population could care less about what DeLay and his cronies are doing. They do not give a shit and the Republicans are taking it to the bank.

They don't need voter fraud when they have voter apathy and ignorance on their side.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Jack Rabbit]

28. Ethics, torture, fabricated reasons to go to war, fiscal irresponsibility

. . . tampering with social security . . .

You name it, they'll fry for it on election day.

[Zorra]

29. All REPUBLICANS are CORRUPT.

The unspoken ideology of the entire republican party is: "Take money from corporate interests and then do whatever they want you to do, no matter how rotten, immoral and unethical it is.

After the last 4 years, you really have to have something seriously wrong with you if you belong to the republican party or vote for republicans.

And Robert Ney, who has taken actions that make him look like he might be a Diebold, er, "employee", is in all likelihood way dirtier than Delay could ever aspire to be in his wildest dreams. Ney is the fucking CHAIRMAN of the heavily republican dominated Committee on House Administration. So if we ever want to get the House of Representatives to bring to a vote any legislation that makes our voting process even remotely verifiable and transparent, we will almost surely have to go through Herr Ney. Which basically means that if there is any attempt at making our voting process genuinely verifiable, forget it, because Ney gets paid to make damn sure that it will never get voted on in the House in this lifetime.

From the OP:

"Nowhere is the impact of the ethics issue clearer than here in the Appalachian hills of eastern Ohio, where a thicket of weekly newspapers now gives regular coverage to revelations about House Administration Committee Chairman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and his ties to DeLay and Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist now under criminal and congressional investigation for the tens of millions of dollars in fees he and a partner collected from casino-owning Indian tribes."

[ngGale]

31. Ethics? They were rewritten for DeLay, were they not...

to keep him above the law. I'm sure they will come up with something to avoid accountability.

[Nothing Without Hope]

32. Note that they're not concerned about the Iraq War lies, the war

profiteering scandals, the social security and health care messes, the torture scandals, and on and on and on.

Nope, it's all Tom DeLay's fault that people are starting to indicate some discontent. That's the only thing they can admit. It's not THEIR fault, of course. They are innocent of it all. It's just sooooo unfair.

Let's hope enough people see through them that even with election fraud they cannot take both houses of Congress again. After all, if something like a 30 point margin suddenly disappeared over election night in multiple races, even the sheeple might start to wonder.

[Demeter]

36. It's Okay If They Use DeLay As The Fall Guy

because he will bring down Boy George and the GOP by default.

[Nothing Without Hope]

37. I wonder what they will do to prevent him from talking about were all

the "bodies are buried"? Surely he knows some real dirt about important people. I suspect they've set something up so that he would be punished with revelations about his own doings - blackmail is a good way to ensure silence.