Hastert takes a broom to ethics panel

[MelissaB]

Hastert takes a broom to ethics panel
By Alexander Bolton
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) removed Chairman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) and Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) from the House ethics committee yesterday.

House Democrats, who reappointed all five of their members, joined watchdog groups (regarded as partisan opponents by the GOP) in immediately attacking Hastert’s action.

In Hefley’s place, Hastert named Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), and he left Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) on the panel. The new Republican members are Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who preceded Hefley as the panel’s chairman four years ago, and Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Melissa Hart (R-Pa.).

>>>snip


Hefley was believed to be probing Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) as well as McDermott, said Melanie Sloan, head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group that tracks the committee.

More: http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/020305/ethics.html

[Kikosexy2]

1. Hastert...

needs to put that broom up his arse and ride it.

[MelissaB]

2. My question is:

Why would he be probing Conyers???

[Wilms]

3. Something about giving out Turkeys. n/t

And, perhaps, being a pain in Blackwell's neck.

[meganmonkey]

4. Good question...What does it all mean?!

I don't know enough about this committee, I hope someone with a better grasp than me on all this posts!!! It seems like maybe it has a lot to do with protecting DeLay...? But I have no idea what the Conyers thing could be about...

Sorry I couldn't help answer your question

[Lefty48197]

6. The Conyers thing is just a distraction

There were reports that Conyers had used government staffers to do private work or something like that. They were just trying to saddle Conyers with something because he was questioning the vote count so much.
The real story is that Tom DeLay is guilty of so many crimes that he ought to be handcuffed to the inside of a jail cell. The purge is an attempt to save his ass. This is another example of "Kill the messanger".

[Lefty48197]

5. Well no damn wonder they had a purge:

"Hefley reiterated that he disagreed with the GOP leadership’s decision to amend the ethics process through a rules package adopted last month along party lines."


"I think clearly he changed the makeup of the committee because people were for whatever reason not happy with the committee,” LaTourette said.
Last year, the committee rebuked DeLay three times for conduct damaging the integrity of the House but did not find that DeLay had violated any rules.
The admonishments, in two lengthy reports just weeks before the election, gave DeLay’s enemies fodder on the campaign trail. GOP lawmakers criticized the committee’s handling of the issue, and Hefley said at least one Republican colleague threatened him."


"The watchdogs criticized the appointments on the grounds that Smith gave $10,000 to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) legal defense fund, which they say is a potential conflict of interest, Cole gave $5,000, and Hart reportedly voted to shield the majority leader in the case of his indictment under the short-lived DeLay Rule."

I'm not sure if this purge is going to be enough to save Tom DeLay's ass.