Republicans seek complaint against minority leader (Pelosi) -The Hill

[Rose Siding]

A group of House Republican lawmakers, stewing over a Democratic ethics complaint filed against Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), is pressing for the GOP to file a reciprocal complaint against Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for violating campaign-finance law.

That would shatter what’s left of the ethics truce party leaders forged in the late ’90s and could lead Republicans and Democrats to remilitarize the ethics battlefield with tit-for-tat complaints.

Some Republican lawmakers are exhorting their colleagues to back away from such a war.

House Republican leaders, less choleric than the rank-and-file members who want to target Pelosi, are discussing reforming the procedures of the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, as the ethics panel is formally known, to tighten confidentiality of ethics proceedings and give accused lawmakers more opportunity to defend themselves.

The reforms could also render ethics complaints less damaging by making it easier for the committee to dismiss them and reducing the influence of outside groups that want to have lawmakers sanctioned. Republicans suspect that the Democrats colluded with outside groups by leaking the ethics schedule to them so that they could lobby committee members and maximize damage to DeLay....

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/121504/ethics.html

[w4rma]

1. Bring. It. On. (nt)

[KansDem]

6. Agreed. When the GOP starts bitching and moaning...

Then the Democrats are doing something right!

When I used to hear complaints from the GOP about the Democrats, I used to think "Uh-oh, we need to fix this so we can all work together! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't think that way anymore!

[Straight Shooter]

2. They want war? The Dems should give them war.

I'm tired of watching the Congress Dems get kicked around like dogs, especially when the boot doing the kicking is worn by unethical Repubs.

[Just Me]

3. Throw down the gauntlet,...

,...and fight like hell!!!

:argh:

[Scout1071]

4. Gee, the Repukes want to change the ethics rules. Big suprise.

We need to stop them from doing this.....they must not be allowed to take another step.

[hatrack]

10. "Ethics Rules"?

What are these "Ethics Rules" you speak of? :eyes:

[Dulcinea]

5. Pot, meet kettle.

Bug Boy investigating anyone's ethics? He doesn't know the meaning of the word.

If Pelosi has incurred the wrath of a whackjob like DeLay, she must be doing something right! ;)

[Pirate Smile]

7. Here is more:

-snip-
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert may decide to replace Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) as chairman of the committee. His handling of the complaint against DeLay infuriated many House Republicans. Hefley says he was threatened by colleagues.

-snip-
Democrats blasted Republicans last month for altering conference rules that required Republican leaders to step down from their posts if indicted. Democrats would likely criticize Hefley’s removal. Pelosi has called for an investigation of alleged Republican threats against Hefley. His ouster would likely draw charges of revenge.

An ethics complaint against Pelosi would prompt even greater outrage and probably retaliation. Some Republicans are itching for conflict.

[imabadman]

8. What is the average age of House member?

I don't know for sure, but these people sure act like a bunch of juveniles.

[Cats Against Frist]

11. The Republican Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

Have proven both to Americans with a brain, and the entire world, that they are juvenile, xenophobic, spiteful, have no respect for the rule of law, and will do and alter anything that furthers their mad grab for power. This is a given. There are a couple good ones, but the ones on the loonie Evangelical contingent are too far gone for words.

[Ramsey]

9. DeLay's operation is under investigation

By a Texas AG and several of his collegues have already been indicted by a grand jury. That would seem ample reason to consider an ethics complaint.

Is there any such official inquiry going on in California realted to Pelosi's fundraising? Because if not, what reason or evidence do the Repukes have to bring up an ethics complaint against her, other than rank juvenile petulance that is?

[gratuitous]

12. The GOP rank and file want a big fight

Their "leaders" want no such thing. Quiz: What does that tell you about the relative cleanliness of the hands that might bring such a battle to the table?

[Massachusetts]

13. Its Enema time

Hold still bug boy.

[NVMojo]

14. Looks like we can't count on Reid to do much, read this ...

you gotta read this whole article and look at the wipe it makes through both the Repukes and the Dems ....ugly stuff....

Ethics: In the Eye of the Beholden?
Conflict-of-interest woes involving House and Senate members have

December 31, 2004

WASHINGTON — Faced with mounting evidence that current ethics rules do not cover new ways lobbyists have devised to win favor with members of Congress, the House ethics committee plans to unveil an array of proposed changes next year.

But the proposed changes appear likely to loosen ethics restrictions, not tighten them.

One change would let special interests begin to pay some of a representative's official operating expenses — in effect, making the member beholden for the daily activities of his or her congressional office. Another would increase the number of family members allowed to go on junkets paid for by private interests, a move seen as weakening the rules designed to keep members of Congress independent of outside groups.

The House proposals to loosen ethics restrictions parallel a lack of reform efforts on ethics issues in the Congress as a whole.

Former Senate ethics committee chairman Harry Reid (D-Nev.), now Senate minority leader, has made no apparent effort to push for the ethics review he called for last year after The Times detailed extensive financial relationships between members of Reid's family and business interests he had helped.

snip....

In another case reported by The Times, the sister of U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, (D-W.Va.) is earning $15,000 a month lobbying members of Congress, including her brother, for the tiny Persian Gulf country of Qatar. The Rahall and Weldon cases were two among several reported by The Times in which relatives of members of Congress engaged in lobbying activities.

Others include Sens. John B. Breaux (D-La.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Reid. The Senate is scrutinizing business dealings involving members of Stevens' family and business partners whom, as The Times has reported, he helped.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ethics31dec31,0,2504565,print.story?coll=la-home-nation

[Bandit]

15. A new goal for the Ethics Committee should be to see if they can

actually find someone with ethics in the Halls of Congress. I doubt it would be possible. As far as I'm concerned they are all slime.