This is quoted directly from Harvey Kronbergs Quorum Report and the New York Times
http://www.quorumreport.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08ethics.html
Newly disclosed lobbying records and other documents show that the chairman of the House ethics committee, Doc Hastings, a Washington State Republican, has had a close relationship for years with lobbyists at the Seattle-based law firm that is at the center of ethics accusations involving Tom DeLay, the House majority leader. The records from the law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, show that the firm's former star lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Mr. DeLay who is now the focus of a federal corruption investigation, boasted to a client in the mid-1990's that the firm had "excellent" ties to Mr. Hastings.
Let me know if this "old news" and I'll take it down. I am not great at searching on dkos, but i was unable to find anything about it.
This could as Mr. Hastings' chief of staff implies simply represent a "routine relationship between the congressman and the law firm, and that there has never been any lobbying contact with Mr. Abromoff" formerly of Preston, Gates, and Ellis.
While the NYT reports that Hastings did not introduce legislation or cast votes at the request of Preston Gates, he was pressed by the firm for help in blocking legislation that would have imposed federal minimum wage requirements on clothing factories in the Northern Mariana Islands. This coupled with FEC records indicating that Hastings received $14,000 in campaign contributions from the firm over the past 10 years along with $1,000 in contributions from Abromoff himself, certainly indicates a possible conflict of interest as head of the ethics committee.
In order to avoid the appearance of impropriety, Doc Hastings may want to reconsider recusing himself as head of the committee considering his strong ties to Mr. Abromoff's former firm and Mr. Abromoff himself.
The full story can be found at the NYT online by Philip Shenon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08ethics.html?pagewanted=1