House ethics panel's standoff ends

[deadparrot]

After months of partisan bickering, the House ethics committee is up and running, meaning a host of lawmakers could find themselves under investigation and Democrats could find ammunition for their denunciations of a Republican "culture of corruption," which they are making a central theme of the 2006 congressional elections.

But just what role the reactivated ethics committee will play in Capitol Hill's hot-blooded political climate remains to be seen. Some say the panel will be toothless, hamstrung by rules designed to protect lawmakers; others foresee a return to the tit-for-tat ethical wrangling of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"This could easily turn out to be another era defined by the criminalization of policy differences," said Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Ethics issues tend to be used as a club in larger political warfare."

Democrats are clamoring for official investigations into the financial activities of a number of House Republicans, most notably Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). For their part, Republicans have assumed a defensive posture, threatening retaliation for complaints filed by the opposition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/chitribts/houseethicspanelsstandoffends

[skids]

1. See, this is the problem.

We have caught the Repugs red handed in all sorts of vile acts of corruption. But we don't pounce. One reason is that trumped up charges will be filed against some Dems. But another reason, the more disturbing one, is that some of those charges won't need to be trumped up (though McDermott is not a fair example because he's pretty much the definition of a whistleblower.)

So think of that in the next set of primaries. We need our side to be cleaner.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. A return to noogies in the chambers?

"Republicans have assumed a defensive posture, threatening retaliation for complaints filed by the opposition."

Perhaps that's why they're all in a constant bad mood? :rofl:

[MasonJar]

5. Can you make that into a bumper sticker? It is perfect.

[VegasWolf]

3. Let's fire ALL dirty politicans, regardless of party. nt

[hang a left]

4. D.C. would be a ghost town

:evilgrin: