According to
The LA Times, head of the House Ethics Committee, Doc Hastings, also appears to have ties to Jack Abramoff. If this relationship is significant enough, could this mean that Tom Delay is going to get away without getting in trouble?
According to the article:
Abramoff cited close connections to Hastings in a 1995 letter to the Northern Mariana Islands government in which he urged the government to hire his firm. At the time, Hastings served on a House subcommittee that oversaw the Marianas and was considering Democratic proposals to impose minimum wage, immigration and other U.S. laws on the Pacific commonwealth, which opposed them.
...
Hastings' office and the Marianas team Abramoff headed had at least three-dozen contacts in 1996 and 1997, a crucial time for Abramoff as he tried to show his new client that Preston Gates' six-figure monthly billings were worth the money, according to firm invoices and correspondence provided by the island government to The Associated Press under an open records request.
...
The donation was included in at least $8,300 given to Hastings' campaign by employees of Abramoff's lobbying firms -- first Preston Gates and then Greenberg Traurig. Abramoff gave Hastings' campaign $1,000 between September 1996 and November 1997, donations Cassidy called "inconsequential."
Hastings' appointment to head the House ethics committee came after the previous chairman took issue with some of DeLay's activities and GOP House leaders removed him from the panel.
That's enough to me that I would think Hastings should not be involved. Even though the money publicly donated is not much, there is probably a lot more behind the scenes, and I would think it's highly likely that there is a conflict in interest here. Abramoff's innocence is in question, so shouldn't anyone else associated with him be considered untrustworthy as well?