Common Cause,
Public Campaign,
Public Citizen, and
US Public Interest Research Group sent a
letter to Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Ranking Member Alan Mollohan (D-WV) demanding that the Ethics Committee appoint an outside counsel to investigate Tom DeLay. In the wake of yesterday's news that DeLay's state PAC has violated state campaign finance laws, the groups urged the Committee to appoint this outside counsel within TWO WEEKS.
This comes as lots of others plan in-district activity around DeLay, and as DeLay picks a fight with Hollywood.
See the reasons for an outside counsel below...
The groups said an outside counsel is needed for three compelling reasons:
- Rep. DeLay's position as majority leader vests him with considerable power and influence over the way Congress operates, and the resulting capacity to exact retribution against other Members. The Majority Leader is directly involved in making committee assignments, raising campaign funds for colleagues and, critically, controlling the flow of legislation to the floor of the House. Any sitting Member asked to pass judgment on the Majority Leader's actions is being placed in an inherently untenable position.
- The integrity of the House ethics process has come under a cloud. House ethics rules have been changed twice - and then changed back - specifically in response to earlier investigations of Rep. DeLay; nonpartisan committee staff who recommended past admonishments of Rep. DeLay have been fired; and members of the Ethics Committee who voted to admonish the Majority Leader have since been removed from the Committee, including Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO), the former chairman.
- The independence of the House Ethics Committee has been cast into doubt. Two of the Committee's sitting members have contributed to Rep. DeLay's legal defense fund. And although the latter two members have promised to recuse themselves from any investigation of the Majority Leader, it is unclear whether they will ultimately be involved in deciding whether or how he should be sanctioned if he is found to have violated House rules or standards. The very fact that some committee members have already stipulated they cannot sit in fair and impartial judgment begs for an outside counsel.