Ethics and politics: U.S. House Republicans sting themselves

BACK IN 1993, Republicans in the U.S. House saw an opportunity to embarrass Democrats. With some Democratic representatives facing indictment, the Republicans passed a rule holding that any member of the party leadership who was indicted would have to step aside until cleared. They said this showed that the GOP was more ethical than the Democrats, who made leaders step down only if convicted. Well, well, well.

On Wednesday, with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, facing possible indictment in a probe of campaign finances involving Texas legislative races, House Republicans voted to rescind the 1993 rule.

House Democrats, who have never had a rule requiring members of leadership to step down upon indictment, now say they will create one. It is their time to embarrass Republicans.

Remember when Democrats claimed that the effort to impeach President Clinton was motivated by nothing but politics? Well now Republicans are saying that if DeLay is indicted, it will be for entirely political reasons. Will they keep saying that if he is convicted, as numerous Clinton associates were?

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told The New York Times, “every time we start to water down what we did in ‘94 we are basically saying the revolution is losing its character.” How right he is. The 1994 Republican revolution was supposed to usher in a new era of smaller, leaner, more ethical government. But slowly those ideals were dropped as Republicans got comfortable in the seats of power.

The ethics rule House Republicans voted to drop was, it turns out, never about ethics. It was about embarrassing Democrats. But as Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., noted in explaining why he voted to keep the rule, even if the rule — created for the purpose of political exploitation — is open to political exploitation by Democrats, abolishing it now gives the appearance that House Republicans are insincere when they profess a commitment to high ethical standards. Too bad that appearance is not deceiving.

Documents show Earle – media collusion
The Party Line: March 15, 2004

Several weeks ago, Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser filed an open records request with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to find out how much taxpayer money he is wasting on his partisan investigation of the 2002 elections, as well as what kind of contacts he has had with the media. In the past, Earle – a.k.a. the Earle of Injustice – has been accused of leaking sealed grand jury testimony to the press to hurt Republicans.

Mr. Earle appealed to the Attorney General to keep most of the documents hidden, but the State GOP has received some of the requested information.

The documents reveal that Mr. Earle and one of his employees were asked to review several drafts of a journalist’s column before it went to press. Dave McNeely with the Austin American Statesman repeatedly asked Mr. Earle to provide input on the drafts, and told him to "keep your fingers crossed" as newspaper editors finalized the articles for publication. No Republicans were given the same opportunity.

The revelation that Mr. Earle is so closely coordinating the publication of negative newspaper articles about Republicans only reinforces the belief that the primary purpose of his investigation is to unfairly hang Republicans in the media.

Additional documents show that an Austin television journalist apparently has been aiding the DA’s partisan witch hunt.

Nanci Wilson, an investigative reporter with KEYE-TV, emailed to D.A. Ronnie Earle letters from defense attorney Andy Taylor to Judge John Dietz. Mr. Taylor’s letters outlined the defense’s position on legal issues at the center of a civil lawsuit regarding the 2002 elections. Mr. Earle, who is conducting a separate criminal investigation, acknowledged that he "had not seen the letters" until Wilson provided them.

In a separate email, Wilson tells Earle that she and a mutual friend "had a long ‘We love Ronnie’ discussion! So if your ears were burning, good things were being said."

It is appalling that a member of the press would intentionally aid Ronnie Earle’s partisan witch hunt. How can Republicans get a fair shake with this reporter if she is serving as a clandestine intelligence operative for Ronnie Earle?

Egregious instances of media bias like this hurt the public’s trust in the press.

Ronnie Earle’s investigation is clearly focused on creating negative headlines and nightly broadcasts about Republicans, and it is disappointing to learn that he is being helped by at least two members of the press.

It is absolutely ridiculous for Mr. Earle to claim that he needs additional time to complete his fishing expedition by convening a new grand jury. If he would spend more time doing his job instead of playing news director or newspaper editor, this witch hunt would have been over a long time ago.

Republicans absolutely did the right thing! Why should DeLay lose his Seat while this so called "investigation" is going on? He shouldn't! Democrats have a lot of gall trying to be so High and Mighty. Can anyone say KENNEDY! Does anyone remember when Kennedy did the Swimmer number while he let a woman drown in his car? Did ANYONE think he shouldn't keep his Seat in Congress? Nope! He even ran for President and the Democrats thought that was just Hunky Dory! Get off it you bunch of lying Scum. You covered for Kennedy and you covered for Torricelli and you covered big time for Clinton. Republicans have NOTHING to be embarassed about with this move!

Well, yes, but.... It is the possible indictment of DeLay that is the unethical poiitical here. They have seen a loophole that they can control and the dems have sought to exploit it. The dems hate DeLay and will attack him any way they can. My bet is that they already have a plan of harassment in the event he drops his leadership role. They would watch him and every time he did something demonstrating leadership, that hag Pelosi would call a press conference and cackle.

These people are the slimiest ever. They prove, day after day, that they are vicious, medacious and vindictive partisans with no interest in anything but regaining power. They should be treated like the cockroaches they are!

This is exactly the wrong thing to do. Delay was in the Senate when this rule was passed, did he vote for it? I thought it was the democrats who think rules do not apply to them. Republicans do not need to look like a bunch of schemers and hucksters now they are gaining and keeping power. If he had any ethics, he would step down if he is indicted until he is cleared by a jury of his peers. Then work to change the rule. It makes us look like we are only in it to gain polictical power. We do not want to become a party of people that believes the laws/rules don't apply to those we agree with. It does not matter what the democrats do, we are supposed to have morals and ethics and this rule change at this time just has a bad odor to it.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/34426.htm

This is an article that slams delay for changing the rules.
i have mixed feelings about this. on one hand, ronnie earle is a hack trying to destroy delay on baseless grounds. on the other hand, isn't our party supposed to lead on principles ( since democrats don't have any? ). we know teddy killed that lady, that robert byrd is an old kkk'er, hillary abused the office of the presidency in so many ways
( can you say fbi files? ) . that's why we don't vote for them. they are corrupt- rotten to the core. are we sacrificing our principles so delay can remain in power?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.