House GOP targets ethics
WASHINGTON – In the aftermath of ethics rebukes of their popular but controversial majority leader, Tom DeLay of Texas, House Republicans today are expected to consider rule changes that would make it harder to bring ethics complaints against lawmakers.
One proposal would require that a majority of House Ethics Committee members approve any investigation of a House member. Currently, an inquiry can move ahead even if the Ethics Committee, which has five Republicans and five Democrats, deadlocks.
Another proposal, its critics argue, would make it more difficult to enforce ethics rules unless improper conduct is clearly spelled out in the rules.
The proposed rule changes are one of the first orders of business of the new, more Republican Congress, which convenes this week.
Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, one of several government watchdog groups that have come out against the proposed changes, said the new rules send a message that “there is going to be no accountability in the House, or very little accountability, for unethical behavior.”
The proposals will come before House Republicans in a closed-door session Monday and then go to the full House on Tuesday. Democrats have assailed the proposed changes, but Republicans, as the majority, are expected to prevail.
The effort to change the rules comes amid reports that House leaders also are considering replacing Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., as chairman of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics committee is formally known. Under Hefley’s leadership, the committee rebuked DeLay twice last fall for his hardball political tactics.
DeLay was admonished for involving a federal agency in a Texas partisan matter and staging a fund-raising event in a way that appeared to link access to the congressman with political donations. He also was criticized for saying he would support the campaign of a retiring congressman’s son to succeed his father if the congressman voted for legislation adding a prescription-drug benefit under Medicare.
The rebukes angered many of DeLay’s fellow Republicans, who credit the House’s No. 2 leader for helping the GOP expand its majority in the House and position itself to pass more of President Bush’s legislative agenda.
In November, House Republicans changed a party rule to allow DeLay to hold onto his leadership post even if indicted. Two months earlier, a Texas grand jury indicted three fund-raisers with ties to DeLay for allegedly funneling illegal corporate contributions to GOP candidates for state office.
DeLay’s allies contend the Texas investigation was politically motivated.