Ethics committee chairman breaks pledge
By on Dec 14th, 2005 at 4:19 pm
Ethics committee chairman breaks pledge
to immediately investigate DeLay. The Hill: “The House ethics committee may not launch an immediate investigation into the activities of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) once it becomes fully operational after New Year’s, according to its chairman Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA). In April, Hastings pledged to launch an immediate probe of DeLay if Democrats agreed to cooperate with him and allow him to organize the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, as it is officially known.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Bush
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Glenn Beck
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Iraq
Kristol
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Maddow
McCain
Media
Military
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Public Plan
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Sports
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Technology
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
Not surprised. I’ve gotten used to MOST republicans paying lip service to doing the right thing, but actually doing the opposite. When they’re caught, blame it on the democrats or the “elite media”. Been there done that bought the t-shirt.
December 14th, 2005 at 4:27 pmHow’s that Iraqi intelligence report they were almost finished with?
December 14th, 2005 at 4:37 pmThey’re waiting to see how his trial goes next month. If he gets acquitted, then they’ll drop the whole ethics investigation into DeLay on the pretext that he was acquitted, so he did “nothing wrong.” (I’ve already debunked that one.) Of course, OJ Simpson was acquitted, too, but it’s hard to find people who think he did “nothing wrong.â€
December 14th, 2005 at 4:46 pmYou’re right, cynical. Wasn’t this about the time that Pat Roberts’s committee was supposed to report having done something, or started something, or agreed that something should have been looked at but wasn’t, or something? I thought I remembered a mid-December time frame for some kind of action. Help us remember, TP! I’m sure you’ll be on top of it if a deadline should come and go. But that’s all a topic for another thread.
When are they going to open an investigation into Bob Ney?
December 14th, 2005 at 4:49 pmHey, did they ever “finish” Phase 2 of their War in Iraq investigation?
December 14th, 2005 at 4:52 pmAfter the republicans renege on their words over and over again, are the Democrats the only ones who remember what the Republicans said previously?
December 14th, 2005 at 4:55 pmOne after another, they flip-flop, they renege, they dodge, they even change rules to suit their purposes.
#4, I think that was mid-November for the second part of that report. Rockefeller has been frustrated for a year and finally there was the dust up in the Senate and Roberts got all hot and bothered and said, ( (paraphrased)the Dems are just impatient –we have been working feverishly on the report and it will come out in the next week or two.
December 14th, 2005 at 4:58 pmSounds like this chap went to school with (Sc)Alito. Say one thing to get the job, then abandon your pledge once you have the job. (aka “lie”)
December 14th, 2005 at 4:59 pmWhat a surprise!
December 14th, 2005 at 5:01 pmYou may be right, Marie. In any case, I think it’s overdue. Anyway, I apologize to TP and everyone if I got us “off topic” so, like I said…
When will they investigate Bob Ney? Or are they just going to wait to see if he pleads guilty and resigns his seat like the “Duke-Stir” did?
December 14th, 2005 at 5:03 pmLiars to the bitter end. Quite a “family value” they must have learned.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:11 pmlegality has no bearing on ethics
December 14th, 2005 at 5:16 pm…so regardless of DeLay’s outcome, or the SCOTUS decision on redistricting
…there must have been ethical violations (does anyone have a link to their code of ethics, its probably a good reference)
…morality defines ethics, so it is only proper, that with an administration with no morals, there will be no ethical oversight
TP reported last week regarding the real reason go to war
How does this stand up ethically?????
December 14th, 2005 at 5:20 pmWAG THE DOG!
December 14th, 2005 at 5:24 pmChris in AZ,
I agree in principle. I’m just saying that should DeLay get acquitted, Rep Hastings’s excuse for not investigating would likely be that an acquittal means (to him) “nothing wrong was done.”
http://www.house.gov/ethics/ is the site for “Committee on Standards of Official Conduct”. http://www.house.gov/ethics/Ethicforward.html gets you to the “Ethics Manual For Members, Officers, and Employees of the U.S. House of Representatives.” (Though they caution you to “Please note: This document is for reference purposes only. The printed manual is the official version.”)
December 14th, 2005 at 5:30 pmWAGE THE DOG is absolutely correct. Bush said today that he knows he went to war with bad intelligence, and then said, intelligently, that he would do the same thing all over again.
Does anyone doubt his intelligence? I certainly do.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:32 pmThanks Wayne -looks like I’ll have some reading to do this weekend, this should be refrenced often every sunday morning by Russert, Wallace, Shafer, Blitzer, and Stephanopolus (sp) when these guys come out of the woodwork and spew there excuses on Networks
December 14th, 2005 at 5:37 pmThis should surprise no one. By their record, Republicans will promise anything and then go right ahead and do what they planned all along. The decit and duplicity they show is beyond belief, perhaps that is why so many Americans continue to believe them?
Time to hold these guys accountable. If they lie, call them what they are, LIARS. If they cheat call them CHEATERS, and if they get us nito wars on false pretenses IMPEACH them.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:41 pm#17 My biggest problem with many Members of Congress is the lack of an ability to understand what both “conflict of interest” and, more importantly, what “the appearance of a conflict of interest” mean. They just don’t seem to understand that to the ordinary citizen, when you give lots and lots of money to a candidate and that candidate wins and agrees to meet with you to discuss what laws you;d like to see passed or repealed, it can create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Because they do it all the time, they don’t see how it looks to us. It looks just fine to them, but they forget that they are not us, and it looks really, really bad to us.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:42 pmThis link sends you to the Ethics Committee Members. There you can click on a name, and start emailing.
That the House Members formed “a truce” (comment by M. Sloane on Al Franken yesterday) and agreed not to investigate ANYONE is outrageous. It gives these clowns carte blanche. I for one am tired of this.
I’m going to start my writing campaign now.
http://www.house.gov/ethics/CommitteeMembers.htm
December 14th, 2005 at 6:12 pm#20 My understanding of this “truce” was that the Democrats would not call for an investigation of any Republican and the Republicans would not call for an investigation of any Democrat. The upshot was that a Member would be investigated only if someone from that Member’s own party called for it.
I found it ironic that in a section called “CODE OF ETHICS FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICEâ€, the first item after “Any person in Government service should:†reads:
1. Put loyalty to the highest moral principals and to country above loyalty to Government persons, party, or department.
And yet I often see Members of both parties clearly putting their loyalty to party above loyalty to country.
December 14th, 2005 at 6:20 pmNow that I think about it, this very “truce” is a violation of the first item of the Code of Ethics for Government Service! The agreement forces members to put loyalty to their party ahead of loyalty to their country. How unethical! And ironic! But I don’t think they would see it as either.
December 14th, 2005 at 6:26 pmThanks for the line, True Blue #20, as I sent Doc Hastings an email noting that I expect the Ethics Committee to do their job, no matter how afraid he is of Tom DeLay.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but here is one of Rep. Doc Hastings, R-WA recent quotes:
“In remembering those who lost their lives in the London attacks and the September 11th attacks we continue our commitment to fighting for freedom, democracy and justice.”
I mean, he left out the part about “democracy and justice” taking a back seat when it comes to his old friend and corrupt pal, Tom DeLay.
December 14th, 2005 at 6:51 pmA republican who lied? Imagine that!
December 14th, 2005 at 9:26 pmStandards of Official Conduct Committee
They can’t even bring themselves to say the word. E-T-H-I-C-S…might as well be C-A-L-C-U-L-U-S. It’s a mystery to these corrupt goons.
December 14th, 2005 at 10:01 pmWhen will the GOP investigate Jack Murtha for lying about his position on the war to hide his favors for his brothers? When will the radical dipshits on the left realize ethics will on hurt Democrats because everyone knows they LIE, STEAL and CHEAT to stay in power.
December 15th, 2005 at 12:07 am[...] After 16 months of inaction, the House ethics committee will begin bribery investigations into Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and William Jefferson (D-LA). Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) will escape scrutiny from the committee because he will be leaving Congress last month, breaking Chairman Doc Hasting’s (R-WA) Apr. 2005 pledge to investigate the former House Majority Leader. [...]
May 18th, 2006 at 9:08 am