House Ethics Committee Makes History in 2005-The Wrong Kind

[GOPAgainstGW]

Democracy 21 Press Release
House Ethics Committee Makes History in 2005 - The Wrong Kind, According to Democracy 21
9/20/2005 12:16:00 PM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=53667
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To: National Desk

Contact: Elenia Saloutsi of Democracy 21, 202-429-2008 or [e-mail]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The House Ethics Committee has made history this year -- the wrong kind of history.

"We are now two-hundred and sixty days into the current session of this Congress and, incredibly, the House Ethics Committee is still not operational," according to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer.

"This is an unprecedented and disgraceful performance that has seriously undermined the integrity and credibility of the House," Wertheimer said.

Yesterday the FBI filed a criminal complaint against a White House procurement official, who resigned last week, reportedly in connection with the government's corruption investigation into the activities of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

"The FBI criminal complaint serves to remind us that the nonfunctioning House Ethics Committee has done absolutely nothing this year to investigate the serious, multiple ethics questions that have been raised regarding the relationships of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) with lobbyist Abramoff," Wertheimer stated.

"The fault for the inexcusable failure of the House to have a functioning Ethics Committee this year rests principally with the House Republican leadership, which spent months working to cripple the Ethics Committee. It also rests with Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), who fired the top nonpartisan professional staff members from the Committee early in the year. Hastings then attempted to place the chief of staff from his congressional office into a top nonpartisan staff position on the Committee," Wertheimer stated.

"Even though Chairman Hastings finally backed away from his misguided effort to put his chief of staff into a key nonpartisan Committee position, this has resulted in there being no staff available to do the work of the Committee this year.

"The failure of the House to have an operating Ethics Committee for more than eight months now shows a total disregard and disdain for the ethics rules that govern the conduct of House Members and protect the interests of the American people," Wertheimer said.

"There are at least seven Representatives whose activities were reportedly being examined by the Ethics Committee at the end of the last Congress, or who require an ethics committee investigation as a result of information made public this year, starting with the multiple ethics issues facing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas)," Wertheimer stated.

"And yet nothing has been done in this Congress on any of these matters because there is no functioning Ethics Committee."

The matters from either last Congress or this Congress that require an Ethics Committee investigation include:

-- An inquiry into the multiple ethics problems that have been raised concerning the activities of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), including his various dealings with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff;

-- An inquiry concerning Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and his dealings with Abramoff;

-- An inquiry into whether Representative John Conyers (D-MI) and his aides improperly conducted partisan political activities out of his Detroit congressional office;

-- An inquiry into whether Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) improperly used his office to aid his daughter's public relations firm;

-- An inquiry into allegations that Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) violated House ethics rules and standards in handing over a tape of an illegally intercepted phone conversation to the press;

-- An inquiry into whether Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) misused his public office for personal financial gain;

-- An inquiry into whether Representative William Jefferson (D-La.) misused his public office for personal financial gain.

"The Cunningham and Jefferson cases reportedly are the subject of federal corruption criminal investigations, and at a minimum require an initial investigation by the Ethics Committee as to whether the Committee should pursue these cases at this time," Wertheimer stated.

On May 19, Democracy 21 sent a report to the House Ethics Committee titled "House Majority Leader DeLay's Ethics Problems: The Ethics Rules and Issues that Need to be Addressed by the House Ethics Committee." The Democracy 21 Report detailing the various ethics issues facing Representative DeLay is available at http://www.democracy21.org.

[DrDan]

1. GOP Ethics

the ultimate oxymoron

or in this case, oxymoran

[GOPAgainstGW]

2. LOL n/t