Reports of the Ethics Committee’s death have only been partially exaggerated

May 18, 2006

For nearly a year and a half, the [tag]House[/tag] [tag]Ethics Committee[/tag] literally did not function. It did not meet, it did not consider controversies, and it did not appear to be capable of ever working again. No matter how serious a House lawmaker’s scandal, the panel simply would not lift a finger.

That is, until yesterday.

After 16 months of inactivity and partisan infighting, the House ethics committee launched investigations last night into bribery allegations against Reps. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and William [tag]Jefferson[/tag] (D-La.) and a separate inquiry into the widening scandal surrounding former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.).

The committee said it would have ordered another investigation, into the overseas trips of former House majority leader [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] (R-Tex.), had the once-powerful lawmaker not announced that he will resign from the House on June 9.

The inquiries by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics panel is formally known, come after the [tag]Justice Department[/tag] intensified [tag]corruption[/tag] [tag]investigation[/tag]s of Ney and Jefferson, and after Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes and was sent to prison.

The need for [tag]Ney[/tag] and [tag]Cunningham[/tag] investigations has been obvious for over a year, but it appears that committee Republicans needed to wait until they could have at least one probe of a Democrat before they could move forward. Indeed, the House GOP leadership has said repeatedly that they saw no need to “double up” on the Department of Justice — a lawmaker facing a criminal investigation need not also be investigated by the Ethics Committee. Fortunately, the logjam has finally broken.

Ney and Jefferson are already in all manner of trouble, but it’s the Cunningham angle to the committee’s work that may ultimately be the most salient.

The case took a new twist last month when Wade told prosecutors that Wilkes had an arrangement with a limousine company, which in turn had an arrangement with at least one escort service, one source said. Wade said limos would pick up Cunningham and a prostitute and bring them to suites that Wilkes maintained at the Watergate and Westin Grande hotels in Washington. Federal investigators are looking into whether other lawmakers also took part.

“There have been continuing reports regarding [Cunningham’s] conduct, the conduct of his alleged co-conspirators, and others, that, if true, raise serious issues concerning violations of House Rules and standards,” a joint statement from Hastings and Berman said. “Most recently, reports have suggested that federal officials are investigating whether Representative Cunningham and possibly other Members and staff were provided hotel rooms, limousines, and other services in exchange for performing official acts.”

If the Ethics Committee thoroughly delves into this story, it could help produce additional details. Stay tuned.

“If the Ethics Committee thoroughly delves into this story, it could help produce additional details.”

and if pigs had wings they could fly.

In this case these pigs do have the power to investigate congressional ethics but the the probability is nil that it will happen.

  • See, they had to wait until there was a juicy Democratic scandel to start work or it wouldn’t have been fair 😉

    I agree that the Watergate and Westin Grande poker, prostitute, bribery, and tax evasion parties are the real interesting growth investigation.

    The bribery and tax evasion part runs like this. Employees from Wilkes’ company play at the poker games and deliberately lose to the congressmen and staffers. The congressmen and staffers, having all this undocumented INCOME on their hands, turn around and spend it on the prostitutes. Of course, they never report their income to the IRS, thus evading taxes.

  • I’ll believe it when I see it. My money is on Jefferson being admonished or worse, Ney being found to be a stand up guy doing “hard work” for the people and as much blame as possible being heaped on the already defunct Dukester. Thisis money I am happy to lose if this turns out to be a real ethics committee and not a partisan B.S. stunt.

  • Time for a graphic depiction of the number of Republicans vs the number of Democrats who are being investigated. (What is it, like 20:1?)

    2/3 of Americans are too bamboozled to realize that the Republicans have a real problem compared to the Democrats, and the “even-handed” press keeps muddying up the water.

    We’ll need to draw them a picture.

  • MNProgressive beat me to it. This will be a sham, in accordance with everything that has gone on before that has the glimmer of oversight. Jefferson will get the stuffing beaten out of him, DeLay will be a big zero, since it takes so many of the same people down who are doing the investigating – same with Ney. Duke remains the scapegoat – but probably nothing new will come of that connection, despite the myriad possibilities.

    In case you missed this gem, have a look and you’ll see why nothing has gone on. I dont think that this announcement really changes the deal :

    http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/11/house.ethics/

  • “Most recently, reports have suggested that federal officials are investigating whether Representative Cunningham and possibly other Members and staff were provided hotel rooms, limousines, and other services in exchange for performing official acts.” emphasis mine

    “other services”, now that’s rich. If Starr could describe activities in such graphic detail, I wonder why the ethics committee feels constrained? Oh yeah, IOKIYAR. I keep forgetting.

  • “Most recently, reports have suggested that federal officials are investigating whether Representative Cunningham and possibly other Members and staff were provided hotel rooms, limousines, and other services in exchange for performing official acts.” emphasis mine

    “other services”, now that’s rich. If Starr could describe activities in such graphic detail, I wonder why the ethics committee feels constrained? Oh yeah, IOKIYAR. I keep forgetting.

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