Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
After months of taking a political beating in a dispute that has stalled ethics investigations, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives grudgingly voted last week to undo rule changes that they pushed through in January.

The reversal follows a stalemate with Democrats on the House ethics committee, who have refused to work under the new rules, which they say were designed to insulate House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) from investigation.

DeLay was admonished three times by the committee last year for ethics violations. He faces mounting questions over his fund-raising activities, travel, ties to a scandal-plagued lobbyist, and other issues.

In January, House Republicans used their majority status to change the way the ethics committee functions, altering the rules in ways that critics said would cause most ethics complaints to wither and die.

Chief among their criticisms: In the past, a deadlock of the evenly split — five Republicans, five Democrats — committee prompted further investigation of an ethics complaint. Under the new rules, such a deadlock would cause the complaint to be automatically dismissed.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who led the push for changing the rules in January, last week sounded a defiant note, saying the changes were “good, fair things” sacrificed last week so the committee could resume its work.

The ethics committee’s senior Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan (W. Va.) disagreed, saying the January rule changes sabotaged the House by eliminating a “credible ethics process.”

Last week, the House voted 406-to-20 to roll back the rules, clearing the way for the committee to resume its work, including an investigation of the funding for travel by DeLay.

While the reversal means the committee will be working again, USA Today last week noted that some problems may remain, highlighting the fact that all five Republicans on the ethics committee have financial ties to DeLay.

Committee chairman Doc Hastings (Wash.), Rep. Judy Biggert (Ill.), and Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.) have each received payments from DeLay’s political action committee (PAC), Americans for a Republican Majority. Rep. Melissa Hart (Pa.), who would chair the investigation into DeLay, also received $15,000 from his PAC, USA Today reported. The other member, Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), has contributed to DeLay’s legal defense fund.