House ethics committee relaxes rules on free plane rides.

[pampango]

"Led by House Ethics Committee chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the House of Representatives on Wednesday unanmiously agreed to loosen strict rules on members' acceptance of free airplane rides that were adopted when Democrats took over Congress in January."

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/05/congressmen_can_take_flights_f.html

"The change stipulated that members of Congress can fly their own airplanes on official business as well as accept "personal use of an aircraft ... that is supplied by an individual on the basis of personal friendship.""

"...the ethics enforcement process is crippled because only members of Congress can file complaints against their colleagues. "I don't see a member filing a complaint against another member for flying on someone's plane, saying they are not really friends.""

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I guess that 4 months under the stricter rules adopted when we took over the House in January is enough time to elapse before we start to "reinterpret" rules restricting the influence of lobbyists.

[tubbacheez]

1. I don't like the new rule, but the old one was unenforceable.

And when unenforceable rules stay on the books, they dilute legitimate laws, since people need to keep track of which laws have real teeth and which laws don't.