U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) gestures as she speaks during a taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios in Washington, DC May 7, 2006. NO SALES NO ARCHIVES REUTERS/Alex Wong/Meet the Press
Posted on 05/10/2006 7:31:02 PM PDT by Libloather
GOP dares Pelosi: Sign on the line
By Josephine Hearn
U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) gestures as she speaks during a taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios in Washington, DC May 7, 2006. NO SALES NO ARCHIVES REUTERS/Alex Wong/Meet the Press
Freshman Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.) wants to help House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — well, sort of.
McHenry has prepared an ethics complaint for Pelosi to file against a fellow Democratic lawmaker, Rep. William Jefferson (La.), who is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly having received more than $450,000 in bribes.
“We’re taking paperwork off her desk — who doesn’t appreciate that?” quipped McHenry, who plans to send the complaint to Pelosi today. McHenry was spurred to produce the complaint after Pelosi said last week that she thinks the House ethics committee should investigate the Louisianan.
“In the spirit of fairness and bipartisanship, we’re helping her keep the promise she made on [NBC’s] ‘Meet the Press’ to request an ethics committee investigation of Jefferson,” McHenry said.
Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider responded by questioning when McHenry would be advocating ethics complaints against Republicans under investigation.
“Did Mr. McHenry send his complaint on Congressman Ney to the Speaker?” Crider asked. “Mr. McHenry’s silence on Congressmen [Tom] DeLay [R-Texas], [Bob] Ney [R-Ohio], [John] Doolittle [R-Calif.], and [Richard] Pombo [R-Calif.] can only be interpreted as an endorsement of their alleged illegal activities and unethical behavior. If he were genuinely concerned about upholding the highest ethical standard, Mr. McHenry ought to take a good, hard look at the Republican Conference.”
McHenry’s two-page document is addressed to the chairman of the ethics committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), and the ranking Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman (Calif.), and provides a line for Pelosi’s signature. It summarizes recent news reports of the investigation, including a plea agreement made last Wednesday by a Kentucky businessman who pleaded guilty to having bribed Jefferson. Jefferson has maintained his innocence.
“You only need to sign and notarize the letter prior to submission for the complaint to be official,” McHenry wrote to Pelosi in a letter accompanying the complaint. He ended the missive with a tongue-in-check flourish: “It is always refreshing to see a member go beyond rhetoric and take action when the situation warrants.”
Asked why McHenry did not simply file the complaint himself, as any House member is permitted to do, a spokesman for the lawmaker, Aaron Latham, said Pelosi had taken on the issue.
“Minority Leader Pelosi has said she’s taking the lead in this process. There’s no need for us to duplicate her efforts by filing a separate request,” Latham said.
The letter is the latest exchange of fire between Republicans and Democrats over ethics issues. Democrats have pinned their election hopes on portraying Republicans as the party of corruption, calling attention to the scandal surrounding Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile, Republicans have sought to short-circuit the Democrats’ strategy by playing up Democratic ethics lapses, such as the probe of Jefferson, to make the case that neither party can stake out the high ground on ethics.
While Democrats do have several liabilities on the ethics front — most notably Jefferson and Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.), who recently stepped down as the ethics committee’s ranking Democrat after coming under fire for his real-estate dealings — Republicans have had more to worry about, with former House Majority Leader DeLay being forced to resign his leadership post under an ethics cloud and Ney under federal investigation.
In the midst of the battle over ethics, McHenry has often taken the role of attack dog in chief for House Republicans, issuing stinging critiques of Democrats and pursuing the opposing party with vigor rarely matched by his more accommodating colleagues.
Last month, the 30-year-old co-wrote a resolution commending the service of the U.S. Capitol Police force just days after Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) engaged in a much-publicized tussle with an officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. The resolution fueled the flames of the negative press the incident was drawing to Democrats.
Last November, he rallied his colleagues to send a letter to Pelosi questioning Democrats’ ethical standards.
In June of last year, he took aim at Pelosi for having discussed a potential primary challenge to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in her Capitol Hill offices, a possible violation of House ethics rules.
He was a staunch defender of DeLay in the wake of ethics allegations and admonishments, often appearing on cable television to defend the embattled Texan at a time when many other Republicans were shying away.
In the complaint McHenry drafted for Pelosi, he refers to reports of a plea agreements made by former Jefferson staffer Brett Pfeffer and Kentucky businessman Vernon Jackson to make a case that Jefferson “may have requested and accepted bribes in exchange for official actions, in violation of House rules.”
The way I hear it, Democrats are all descended from former slaves. Their ancestors were apparently sold into slavery by Jews posing as Muslim raiders in Africa. And then, the Republican South refused to free their slaves so the Democrat North fought with them in a bloody Civil War and won. And then a hundred years later, the Democrats later fought for Civil Rights, after championing the issue for 10 decades since the end of the war.
Of course... who can deny it when it is plainly taught exactly like that in our history books by our Democrat teachers and professors? /sarc
RATS don't need no ethics, they got each other.
this should be followed closely....
The GOP needs to be attacking like this every single day!
It's way past time for the Republican Party to give Pelosi and all her cohorts a "dose of their own medicine." I recommend a daily attack on them as a start. The RNC better grow a big set of "you know what" if they want to regain the trust of the base. Personally, I'm sick of my Party being on the defense every single day. It's time to kick some butt!
Isn't Jefferson the guy that had the National Guard float him to his house in NOLA and then he spent an hour or so gathering up all his "important papers" while the boat waited?
Kind'a like a Sandy Burglar, or Rose Law records; retrieved before the Fed's could get to them!
Scumbag!
The lame comeback of a spokescritter who knows her boss has opened her big fat mouth and put her pigeon foot right in it.
That's some picture--it looks like she's gritting her teeth and saying "*&#%#^$* it, Tim, why don't you media people DO something and just GIVE us POWER??????"
sweet
Nah... that is her natural look... no matter how bizarre.
Well, well. I was confused about how the Democrats became Victimcrats right up until you posted this.
Great post. I am enlightened.
:-)
Sheesh.
Bein' a good boy for da' party, man.
"Yes 'em. Yes 'em. I be typin' these paypuhs for ya suh. We wanna be makin' them 'Rats look bad. Mmm Hmm."
If you care to join us in the school courtyard, we'll be singing the National Anthem in Spanish and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, albeit the words "America", "God", and "Free" will not be included in these renditions, and umm... neither will be the flag - due to the sensitivity of the illegal immigrant children who may be in attendance.
(Although, knowing children - the absence of "America", "God", "Freedom" and the flag may be due to the wretched and horrific nausea those seem to provoke in the teaching staff.)
That left eyebrow is bigger than both of mine put together...
Maybe it will improve when she breaks her face in.
OMG, I had forgotten what she really looked like!
Being on the defensive up to the last 60 days is OK. The Rats have burned everyone out with their crap for a couple of years now. The last 60 days will need just a few well placed nuggets of truth and their smoke screen will be gone. We will add seats in the House and Senate if we show up in November!
When they found out how much it was, did they go, 'Oooohhhh,' or 'Ho-hum,' or {snicker} That's all?
It's definitely a cesspool up there.
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.