In case there was any doubt over the precarious state of Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-Ohio) future, House Speaker Dennis Hastert made things awfully clear on Friday afternoon. Roll Call ran a report indicating that Ney, who’s up to his ears in the Abramoff scandal, may be forced to give up his chairmanship of the powerful House Administration Committee — and Hastert’s office started forwarding a copy of the article around to political reporters covering the Hill. Not exactly a subtle move.
Yesterday, Ney made it official, saying he was “temporarily” stepping down from the post.
Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) announced yesterday he will temporarily relinquish his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee, which oversees lobbying, as the corruption investigation into former lobbyist Jack Abramoff moves deeper into the workings of Congress.
Ney has repeatedly said he has done nothing wrong, but in a plea agreement this month, Abramoff said he and his business partner, Michael Scanlon, had showered the six-term lawmaker with lavish trips, campaign funds and gifts in exchange for a number of favors for Abramoff clients. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), facing growing concern that the Republican leadership has been slow to respond to the bribery and corruption scandal, began pressuring Ney about his chairmanship in recent weeks.
The likelihood of Ney regaining the chairmanship at some later date is akin to my chances of being elected the next Speaker of the House. For one thing, once Ney’s replacement gets a hold of that gavel, he or she will not relinquish it easily. For another, Ney’s “temporary” resignation as committee chair is predicated on the notion that he’ll be fully exonerated — and that’s highly unlikely considering the evidence against Ney. Indeed, even Ney’s own Republican colleagues assume he’ll be indicted soon.
To make matters more discouraging for Ney, news of his deteriorating status comes just as a new report from Newsweek points to more alleged wrongdoing.
Ohio Rep. Robert Ney personally lobbied the then Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax U.S. sanctions on Iran. Who asked him to? A convicted airplane broker who had just taken the congressman and a top aide on an expense-paid trip to London, NEWSWEEK has learned.
Ney’s lawyer confirmed to NEWSWEEK that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records on Ney’s February 2003 trip paid for by Nigel Winfield, a thrice-convicted felon who ran a company in Cyprus called FN Aviation. Winfield was seeking to sell U.S.-made airplane spare parts to the Iranian government — a deal that would have needed special permits because of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
As it happens, Ney’s connections to that thrice-convicted felon were awfully interesting. In one instance, the convicted airplane broker took Ney to a London casino where Ney won $34,000 on an initial bet of $100. Shortly thereafter, Ney paid off his $30,000 credit card debt.
And Ney thinks he’s “temporarily” relinquishing his committee chairmanship? Please.