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Sloan, 39, is executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a 3-year-old watchdog outfit that Republican congressional flacks commonly describe as a “Democratic front group.”

CREW, an unabashedly liberal organization

CREW had released an 89-page report profiling the 13 most ethically challenged House members beyond Tom DeLay. On Monday afternoon, Sloan wrote and filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, calling on the panel to investigate the insider-trading allegations that had emerged as a major story that weekend. Then, on Wednesday, the big one hit: DeLay was indicted.

“It’s like the perfect storm,” Sloan marvels. “There’s so much coming together at once it’s almost hard to believe it’s happening … . I think the confluence of all these stories really might change the political dynamics here.

In the past year, CREW shopped around to various members complaints against Congressmen Bob Ney of Ohio and Duke Cunningham of California;

“From the beginning, we wanted to be more aggressive than other good-government groups were,” explains Sloan. “I have a lot of respect for Public Citizen and Democracy 21 and Common Cause, but they don’t do what we do.” CREW aims for attention-grabbing rhetoric, and is usually the first outfit to draft ethics complaints, issue Freedom of Information Act requests, pursue lawsuits, or call for investigations when a scandal breaks. “People in Washington always worry about their words, in part because they’re always worrying in the back of their mind about their next job,” Sloan explains. “I don’t do that. I’m known, in fact, for having a bit of a big mouth.”

Sloan worked as a Democratic Hill aide in the 1990s.

Last year Sloan hired a deputy director, Naomi Seligman, from Media Matters for America; this year she hired a counsel and two more staffers. The board of directors consists of Louis Mayberg, president of a mutual-fund firm, Donna Edwards of the Arca Foundation, Philadelphia-based attorney and Democratic fund-raiser Dan Berger, and pollster Mark Penn.

From 1995 to 1998, CREW’s Sloan served as minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee under Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Before that, Sloan served as the nominations counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.).

"For the longest time, we got no money from George Soros," says Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "We now get money from The Open Society Institute, and it is probably thanks to Bob Ney."

"We don't get money from Mr. Soros directly. We get it from the Open Society Institute," Sloan says.

Sloan wouldn't disclose exactly how much her group gets from Soros' Open Society Institute,

couldn't imagine a better way for Sloan's group "to further destroy any remaining credibility it has than by finally admitting it's funded by a convicted money launderer and proponent of drug legalization in George Soros.

George Soros," Soros spokesman Michael Vachon said of Ney. "Republicans have turned George into one of their bogeymen. They use him to raise money and scare people."

Vachon said Soros' foundation gives away $400 million each year to worthy causes

Billionaire George Soros has been working behind the scenes with liberal anti-Bush groups dominated by longtime Democrat activists.

Republican researchers have connected Soros, members of pressure groups posing as "government watchdog groups" and loaded with Democrat activists, and top Hill Democrats in the attacks on DeLay and the House Ethics Committee.

GOP research efforts are part of a Republican attempt to put a damper on what the paper described as "a media feeding frenzy" surrounding DeLay and allegations of his alleged improper conduct.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a group that last year assisted former Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas, in drafting an ethics complaint against DeLay that resulted in a mild slap on the wrist for the GOP leader. At last week’s press conference, Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said that DeLay should step down as majority leader.

Not surprisingly, from 1995 to 1998 Sloan served as Democrat minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee under Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Before that, Sloan served as the nominations counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Delaware Democrat Sen. Joe Biden.

According to The Hill, GOP research also revealed that Mark Penn, a formed pollster for President Clinton, and Daniel Berger, a major Democratic donor, serve on CREW’s board. Spokeswoman Naomi Seligman refused to reveal the membership of CREW’s board, although she admitted that Penn and Berger are members.

Last year, Berger made a $100,000 contribution to America Coming Together (ACT), a 527 group that was dedicated to defeating George W.Bush in the presidential election, according to politicalmoneyline.com, a Web site that tracks fund-raising. According to records released by the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, March 21, 2005, and obtained by NewsMax.com, Soros Fund Management/George Soros gave the group a whopping $7.5 million in the 2004 election cycle.

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