The GOP garnered control of the House in large part by running against corrupt Democrats. As part of their reforms, Gingrich implemented a series of ethical guidelines.
Now, entrenched, fat, and corrupt, the House GOP is moving to eliminate ethical guidelines:
The proposal being circulated among House Republicans would end a general rule against any behavior that might bring "discredit" on the chamber, according to House Republican and Democratic leadership aides. House members would be held to a narrower standard of behavior in keeping with the law, the House's rules and its ethics guidelines.
Other proposed changes to the ethics committee's rules being circulated in a "Dear Colleague" letter from House Rules Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., would let House members respond to any admonishment before a letter goes out from the committee, and would end an investigation if there is a tie vote.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., plans to bring the proposal before a meeting of all House Republicans next week "and see what they think," said Hastert spokesman John Feehery.
Dems should put up a fight, make noise, and then make this one of the top three issues in 2006. Heck, they should take the image above, taken from a Kagro X diary, and print it up in yellow card stock to pass around.
Reform is always popular, and it's time Democrats assume the mantle. The House needs some fumigation, and the breathtaking arrogance of Hastert and DeLay should provide plenty of ammunition.
In the DeLay case, the committee said he had created the appearance of linking political donations to a legislative favor and improperly gained intervention of the Federal Aviation Administration in a Texas political dispute. It also said DeLay had improperly offered support for the House candidacy of Michigan Republican Rep. Nick Smith's son in return for the lawmaker's vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. Smith voted against it.
After helping craft that admonishment, the committee's chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., may be replaced with another chairman by Hastert. Feehery said that is being considered because Hastert believes rules limit Hefley's tenure on the commission, not because of his leadership on the DeLay case.
History proves that any party that dominates the system for long falls into the corruption trap. Time to put the GOP in the crosshairs of a clean-government campaign. And Kagro X has
the blueprint for the first salvo: actual legislation using language taken from House Republicans publicly repudiating their leadership's abandonment of ethics to their hometown newspapers.