Dems Continue to Block Ethics Committee

[sandnsea]

Dems do continue to fight. We can't lose hope.


Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi introduced a privileged resolution “asking the Speaker to create a bipartisan task force to make recommendations to restore public confidence in the ethics process.” As stated in the resolution,” for the first time in the history of the House of Representatives, decisions affecting the ethics process have been made on a partisan basis without consulting the Democratic Members of the Committee or of the House”. The resolution was voted down 218 – 195, largely along party lines.

On Friday, ten former Congressmen will deliver a letter to Speaker Hastert stating, in part, “We felt grave concern when the Republican leadership changed the ethics rules several weeks ago to require a bipartisan majority vote to even investigate a charge of ethical misconduct. We saw it as an obvious action to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay."

The Congressmen include Mark Andrews, both a Senator and Representative from North Dakota. He is joined by 9 others who left the Congress in the 80’s and say they served under “impeccably honest leaders”. “We write not as a Revolt of the Elders but in the sincere hope that you will act to restore public confidence in the People's House."

Democrats say they will continue to block meetings of the Ethics Committee until the rules are returned to those enacted by the 1997 bipartisan task force or a new ethics task force is created.

Links:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=726