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Pelosi faces ethics probe over potential Massa coverup
The Washington Examiner ^ | March 12, 2010 | Susan Ferrechio

Posted on 03/11/2010 7:41:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

House Republicans are pushing hard for an investigation into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's handling of accusations that ex-Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed a male staffer, putting Democrats in a politically dangerous position.

The House voted 402-1 to refer to the ethics committee a demand put forward by GOP leaders that the panel ask Democratic leaders about how they responded to sexual harassment allegations against Massa.

The move came a day after the ethics panel quietly dropped its probe into Massa, a freshmen New York Democrat. Massa resigned Monday amid allegations he groped male staffers in his office. In interviews Massa said aides had misinterpreted tickling and other horseplay. The ethics panel closed the case because it has no jurisdiction over former members, but the GOP wants the 10-member, bipartisan committee to start a new investigation into the Democratic leadership's handling of the matter.

Pelosi's staff has acknowledged receiving complaints about Massa's behavior as early as October 2009. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., forced Massa to refer the complaint to the ethics committee when he heard about it in February.

"All we do know is there are a continuing stream of press reports which raise questions [about] what was known and when it was known," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va.

The vote does not compel the ethics committee to follow through with the Republican resolution, which would have required the panel to open an official investigation. Instead, it merely directs the panel to consider the resolution.

An investigation could be politically devastating if Pelosi is found to have overlooked warning signs about Massa's behavior. Democratic aides have told reporters that Massa's chief of staff informed the speaker's office in October about concerns that Massa was living with five aides in a group home on Capitol Hill and had gone to dinner alone with a junior aide to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Pelosi aides were made aware of the groping allegations from Hoyer's office in February. Pelosi, though, told reporters last week she only learned of any accusations against Massa on March 3.

Four years ago, the Republican majority watched its poll numbers plummet after media reports disclosed Rep. Mark Foley, a six-term lawmaker from Florida, was pursuing underage male House pages while the GOP leadership did little or nothing to intervene.

Frank said there is no comparing the two cases.

"I believe they will be shown to have done a very appropriate job, which is very different than Mark Foley," Frank said. "Mark Foley had to be broken by the press."

But Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, a former member of the ethics committee, sees similarities to the Foley case, which resulted in an ethics committee report that accused House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and then-Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, of working to conceal the matter.

"The stories this week seem to indicate that at least those questions have been raised about the speaker and the majority leader," LaTourette said.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 111th; congress; corruption; coverup; democrats; ethics; massa; pelosi; probe; scandal; sexualharassment; smellslikerottentuna
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Hoist on her own petard!
1 posted on 03/11/2010 7:41:36 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Please Please Please let this take off like a Rocket.


2 posted on 03/11/2010 7:42:37 PM PST by Marty62 (former Marty60)
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To: Marty62

November is gonna be a blood bath IMHO


3 posted on 03/11/2010 7:45:10 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The House voted 402-1 to refer to the ethics committee

402-1!?!?!?!. Think maybe some Dems are unhappy with Nasty Nan?

4 posted on 03/11/2010 7:45:27 PM PST by GVnana ("Obama is incredibly naive and grossly egotistical." Sarkozy)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I thought she was going to have the most ethical Congress in History. Can I stop laughing now?

Pass the Popcorn.


5 posted on 03/11/2010 7:45:41 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: GVnana

Betcha Barney Frank was the lone vote opposed


6 posted on 03/11/2010 7:46:31 PM PST by ken5050 (Save the Earth..It's the only planet with chocolate!!!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
an ethics committee report that accused House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and then-Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, of working to conceal the matter.
So why is John Boehner still the House Republican cacus leader?
Shouldn't he have been pushed aside long ago (before losing the majority and two historic back to back electoral defeats?)
Maybe it's time for Mike Pence to take over.
 
7 posted on 03/11/2010 7:46:45 PM PST by counterpunch (The Emperor has no Cloture)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It looks like Pelosi’s botox has run out.


8 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:15 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (A proud American-American since 1949.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
an ethics committee report that accused House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and then-Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, of working to conceal the matter.
So why is John Boehner still the House Republican caucus leader?
Shouldn't he have been pushed aside long ago (before losing the majority and two historic back to back electoral defeats?)
Maybe it's time for Mike Pence to take over.
 
9 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:26 PM PST by counterpunch (The Emperor has no Cloture)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well she sure is a swamp queen isn’t she...She hasn’t drained anything ethically...She’ll blame her aides for not telling her about the problem...What a hag!!!


10 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:40 PM PST by hstacey (An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The dems keep self destructing......Get some Pop Corn..Novemver is going to be great.....


11 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:44 PM PST by jakerobins
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To: SandRat

I hope they take her gavel away from her.
She needs to beaten severelly (sp) with it. She has caused much pain and suffering to a lot of people.


12 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:45 PM PST by Old Texan (If the Dims are dumb enough to poke at a Rattlesnake, they are gonna get bit.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Mark Foley, a six-term lawmaker from Florida, was pursuing underage male House pages VIA EMAIL, NOT PHYSICAL GROPING

I just had to get that detail in there.

13 posted on 03/11/2010 7:48:37 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: counterpunch
So why is John Boehner still the House Republican cacus leader?

Because the whole Foley thing was a sham and Boehner had nothing to do with it.

14 posted on 03/11/2010 7:48:45 PM PST by what's up
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To: SandRat

I so agree.


15 posted on 03/11/2010 7:49:37 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Pelosi talked about draining the swamp, but instead she just added much more aggressive slime and stinky scum.

The least ethical congress in history is the result.

16 posted on 03/11/2010 7:49:48 PM PST by highlander_UW (Obama has lost or not saved over 4 million jobs!)
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To: what's up

Is that good politics for a party that wants to maximize the number of seats it holds?


17 posted on 03/11/2010 7:50:25 PM PST by counterpunch (The Emperor has no Cloture)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is a very interesting development.

At first I thought it was really a display of how the rank-and-file Rats have reached the point of desperation where they know they’ve got to play the Chicago Way: the President is pushing them off a plank, you hit back twice as hard, undermine him and his leadership anyway you can.

Now I also think it’s a sign that the Rat rank-and-file may in fact be ticked off with Pelosi for putting them in a position where someone like Massa might have to be pushed out at the last minute, and then be “sick” enough to make a debacle of it by going on Glenn Beck, etc. IOW, they are screaming, “What the hell were you thinking, Pelosi, keeping this ticking timebomb of a cretin around as long as you did?”

Then again this vote for an investigation could just be a CYA move and the Rats will figure out a way to make it all go away quietly anyway.


18 posted on 03/11/2010 7:51:57 PM PST by fightinJAG (Massa = Obambi's poster boy for repealing DADT)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I wanna see Ms. Nancy do da perp walk.

Frog March to the max!

19 posted on 03/11/2010 7:52:24 PM PST by stboz
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To: counterpunch

What in the world?


20 posted on 03/11/2010 7:53:08 PM PST by fightinJAG (Massa = Obambi's poster boy for repealing DADT)
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