Wa-to-the-Po:
And former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called on House Republicans to elect a new majority leader to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), Abramoff's most powerful ally in Washington, who faces a trial on unrelated criminal charges of violating Texas campaign laws.
"Unequivocally, the House Republicans need to select a new majority leader in late January or early February," said Gingrich, who cited revelations in The Washington Post that a public advocacy group organized by DeLay associates had been largely financed by Russian energy interests.
More in extended.
Newt also spoke of the need for substantial
lobbying reform:
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who with Weber's help effectively used issues of corruption to wrest control of the House from the Democrats in 1994, said the Abramoff scandal should trigger a broader review in Congress of the way politicians finance campaigns and deal with lobbyists.
"I'm going to talk at length about the need for us to rethink not just lobbying but the whole process of elections, incumbency protection and the way in which the system has evolved," he said. "Which is very different from the way the American system is supposed to be like. I think Abramoff is just part of a large pattern that has got to be rethought."
Newt has also been focusing on healthcare / Medicare reform as of late. Rumor is he's also considering a run at the White House in 2008. But is a conservative reform GOP candidate possible? Is Gingrich truly for reform or just looking to appear that way in anticipating public opinion?
While on the issue of lobbying reform, there will doubtless be more on this subject over the coming months. Two bills have been proposed in the Senate. Sen. McCain's Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act (S2128) and Sen. Feingold's Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act (S1398) both look to increase the transparency of lobbyist practices. Feingold's bill would prohibit all gifts from lobbyists to members of Congress or their employees.
Update [2006-1-4 16:21:40 by jorndorff]: Bloomberg also quotes Gingrich:
"You don't have to render any judgment on Congressman DeLay to conclude that over the next six or eight months, he is going to be very busy and that it's important for the House Republican Party to have an effective majority leader. DeLay will have to defend himself. The House Republican Party has a different set of interests."
...
"There are a series of behaviors, a series of attitudes, a series of crony-like activities that are not defensible, and no Republican should try to defend them. The danger for Republicans is to pretend this isn't fundamental or to pretend that they can get by passively without undertaking real reform."