Remember all the fun we had a few months ago when Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) was offered over $100,000 for his son’s congressional campaign — by any definition, a bribe — in exchange for his vote on Bush’s Medicare scheme? Good times.
The House Ethics Committee has been considering the matter since the spring and Roll Call reported this morning that the chamber’s top GOP leaders have been questioned as part of the investigation.
A special investigative subcommittee of the House ethics panel recently interviewed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and other House GOP leaders as part of its effort to determine whether any top Republicans sought to improperly influence Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) during a Nov. 22 vote on Medicare reform.
This is not to say that Hastert and/or DeLay have been implicated as the lawmakers who offered the bribe on the House floor, only that the Ethics Committee believes the two may be helpful in answering questions about what happened. Indeed, when the story first broke, Smith said that “House GOP leaders” were responsible for the bribe offer, but he ruled out Hastert and DeLay specifically.
I offer this, more than anything, to let folks know the investigation is still percolating along and may yet cause headaches for the House GOP leaders who were involved with this crime.