Will Hastings wear blinders as House ethics chair?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

As he embarks on a new job as chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings will need the gift of earmuffs and a blindfold to meet expectations of him by Congress' bosses: Hear no evil, see no evil.

The six-term Republican congressman from Pasco may even be forced to put his manhood in blind trust.

Hastings was picked as a down-the-line party loyalist at a time when House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay is facing possible indictment in a Texas grand-jury investigation of improper political fund raising.

Two new loyalist Republicans have been picked to join Hastings on the ethics panel. Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma both have made donations to a DeLay legal defense fund.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/210990_joel07.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. More like a blindfold, at least when it comes to Repukes