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Incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has tapped Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) to be chairman of the ethics committee in the GOP-led House. In his announcement, Boehner said Bonner is “widely respected” on both sides of the aisle and has a “deep appreciation for the importance of both ethics education and enforcement in the House.” “The American people have every right to expect the highest standards of ethical conduct from their elected leaders, and it is important for members of both the majority and the minority to work together to ensure that such standards are observed and respected at all times...

If you haven’t been keeping up, a Democratic institution in Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has been investigated by the House Ethics Committee. This has been an ongoing saga for several months, but finally the normally secretive Ethics committee is convening publicly over the Rangel matter. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., the ranking member of the committee and likely to be the chairman of this committee when the new Congress is sworn in, offered a harsh critique of Rangel, for his use rent-controlled apartments and evasion of taxes, despite being in charge of writing tax code. ...more (w/video)...

Rep. Jo Bonner, an Alabama Republican, is calling on Rep. Joe Barton to step down as the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Bonner is the second Republican, following Florida Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, to call for Barton to step aside. In a lengthy statement, Bonner said his colleague’s Thursday comments regarding BP “sadly fell short of an appropriate response.”

WASHINGTON – To his credit, Rep. Jo Bonner has done his best to embrace some on the hard right that are still a little bitter Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) didn’t get the spot on the House Appropriations Committee. Bonner spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s Conservative Bloggers Briefing (yeah, I know – sounds like a wild party, huh?) a couple of weeks ago and explained that although he isn’t the absolutist Flake is, who wants to eradicate all earmarks – taxpayer money designated specifically for certain areas by Congress, he is the “quiet reformer.” “I had a reporter question me, ‘Why...

Editor's note: "The Political Skinny" is an inside look at Alabama politics prepared by the staff of the Mobile Register. The column is compiled by Political Editor Jim Van Anglen, who can be reached at :jvananglen@mobileregister.com or 251-219-5608.During "town hall" meetings in Baldwin County last week, U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, most likely expected tough questions about President Bush's Social Security proposal.But the congressman probably did not anticipate that several constituents at his stop in Gulf Shores would spend much of the hour-long meeting criticizing his support of the Iraq war.To make his case, Bonner recounted his experience traveling to...