Dems play hardball with House ethics

House Dems, particularly those trying to serve on the House Ethics Committee, have come to realize something important: there’s no point in having the committee do any work at all if it’s going to operate under fraudulent rules. They’ve intentionally brought on gridlock, which given the circumstances, is exactly what’s warranted.

Just as new controversy has erupted over trips taken by congressional Democrats and Republicans — including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) — the workings of the chamber’s ethics committee have been brought to a halt.

Democrats are refusing to accept new rules for the panel written by House Republicans, saying the edicts would gut the committee’s ability to conduct investigations. The Democrats say they will block the committee from functioning until the rules are rescinded.

The leader of the Democratic revolt is a soft-spoken West Virginian with a reputation for bipartisanship. On Friday, Rep. Alan B. Mollohan said the Republicans had left him no choice but to thwart the committee’s operations.

“The rules, each of them separately and together, seriously undermine the ability of the ethics committee to do its job,” said Mollohan, the panel’s ranking Democrat. “The rules are seriously flawed and extremely mischievous to the ability of the ethics committee to efficiently and responsibly discharge its duties.”

Damn straight. House Republicans thought they could effectively build a firewall around DeLay and other ethically-challenged lawmakers by stacking the deck and making the Ethics Committee a toothless, hollow panel. Dems have decided they simply won’t stand for it, and with an even split on the committee (5 members per party), they’re pursuing the only real recourse available to them.

In order for the committee to start working, members have to adopt the new rules. Right now, Dems are refusing to go along and the Republicans can’t go around them. In essence, the Dems are holding the committee hostage and have a few more-than-reasonable demands.

Earlier this year, to help stack the deck in their favor, House Republican leaders bypassed the usual procedures for changing ethics rules and unilaterally started making a few “touch-ups,” in secret, and with no input from anyone. Mollohan argues (accurately) that the Ethics Committee literally cannot operate under the new standards, so he’s pushing a resolution to repeal the changes. Specifically, there are three sticking points:

* The new GOP rules require the consent of the majority in the committee to spark an ethics investigation, instead of an even split between the parties, which the committee used to use. The new standard, obviously, makes it easy to squash potential probes.

* The new GOP rules limit the committee to 45 days to consider an ethics complaint and decide if it warrants a closer look. The old standard was 90 days. By cutting the time in half, DeLay & Co. are anxious to make ethics complaints go away easier and faster. As the Washington Post put it, “It’s a hands-off, no-paper-trail way for members to let ethics complaints simply disappear.”

* The new GOP rules allow one lawyer to represent multiple parties in an investigation. It’s intended to help tie up investigations, “letting those involved in an inquiry get their stories straight in advance.”

Dems have made this quite plain for their GOP colleagues: let’s go back to the old rules, which were working well. If the House wants to revisit the rules, then the process should be open and bi-partisan. Otherwise, there’s no real point in even having a House Ethics Committee.

So what happens next? Mollohan says he has 194 Democrats and one Republican (Chris Shays of Connecticut) on board, supporting a resolution to repeal the new GOP rules. With Shays’ help, Mollohan may be able to force his measure onto the floor for consideration.

Keep in mind, the political problems for Republicans are considerable here. They rigged the ethics process, which makes them look awful as more public attention focuses on their tactics, and their House Leader is quickly becoming overwhelmed by ethics difficulties.

A floor fight over congressional ethics is the last thing the GOP needs right now, but it might be unavoidable. If they’re smart, Republican leaders will quietly give in and allow the Ethics Committee to operate under the old rules. Otherwise, they’ll have to try to publicly defend their scam.

Post Script: I don’t mean to get all Lakoff on the Dems, but they need a short, little description for their efforts. “Repealing unjust rules changes imposed on the House Ethics Committee” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. I recommend: Ethics Reform.

“Dems demand ethics reform”; “Republican leaders refuse to cooperate on ethics reform”; “GOP blocks ethics reform”; and so on. Isn’t that better?