Wherein I continue cataloging the continuing misadventures of Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis), and his attempts to intimidate the Federal judiciary.
Today, the pressure builds for a House ethics investigation:Story link
For people new to this saga, a brief recap:
A few weeks ago, Sensenbrenner (who is chair of the Judiciary Committee) sent a threatening letter to an Appeals Court panel in Chicago objecting to a sentencing decision they made. This blatant violation of separation of powers has attracted some backlash, most notably the resignation/firing of a Republican hatchetman serving as a senior attorney on the Judiciary Committee staff.
Previous diaries on this subject: Original story and first bits of backlash.
So, today's little revelation is that external watchdog groups are starting to turn up the heat on the House Ethics Committee to open a probe. Story is in today's Chicago Tribune and a Wisconsin paper, the Appleton-Fox Post-Crescent (thank you, Google News). Quotes are from the Trib article
An advocacy group has asked the House ethics committee to open an investigation of Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, alleging that the Wisconsin Republican violated ethics rules by attempting to influence a decision in an appeals court case in Chicago.
In a letter dated Wednesday, Nan Aron, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Justice, requested the investigation
The gist of the story is in the two lead paragraphs. Basically, Sensenbrenner got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and should at least get slapped for it.
Committee rules provide that the panel must respond to a request for an investigation brought by a member of Congress, but there is no requirement that it act on a complaint brought by an outside group or individual. The committee is empowered to initiate an investigation on its own.
A spokesman for the committee--officially the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct--declined to comment on the letter, which was addressed to its chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), and ranking Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.).
This is the sticking point. For a House Ethics censure or rebuke, there first have to be an investigation. As students of Tom DeLay scandals are well aware, the current Ethics committee is not noted for its diligence in rooting out questionable behavior. In theory, the DeLay-induced deadlock and neutering has been undone, but in practice, who knows?
The prohibitions against becoming involved in cases apply to cases involving "constituents, not committee oversight," [Sensenbrenner spokesman] Schreibel said.
The House Judiciary Committee is responsible for sentencing legislation and "part of the committee process is to make sure these [statutes] are adhered to," Schreibel said. "Mr. Sensenbrenner has questioned on numerous occasions sentencing and how it's adhered to. This is clearly an oversight letter."
"He was just doing his job, keeping them judges in line". The strange thing about Republicans in the last few months is that they almost don't seem to care that nobody is believing their lies. I guess they think that nobody will call them on it, no matter how blatant. Repeat after me: "Checks and Balances" "Abuse of Power".
On Thursday, Alex Reinert, a member of the American Judicature Society's Task Force on Judicial Independence and Accountability, said, "We believe that all appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that the independence of the judiciary is respected."
End of the article. "Independent judiciary" is another good phrase, especially when "Republicans undermine the" is tacked on to the beginning.
So, anyway, l'affair Sensenbrenner continues to garner ink. Even if he is in a safe district personally, it's one more example in an ever-enlarging galaxy of Republican abuse of power overreaches.
Bonus scandal bit for anyone reading this far: A couple of days ago, the chairman of the Cook County IL GOP party offered a $10K reward for anyone who could tie Mayor Daley to a corruption scandal. Today, it emerges that (a) the Cook County GOP doesn't have $10K and (b) the chairman got fired from his day job as a realtor because his fervently-Democratic boss was just a tad pissed. Story link
-dms
