Different ethical standards for House Ds and Rs
House Democrats have done the right thing and voted to ask Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., under investigation in a bribery scandal, to step down from the powerful Ways and Means Committee. The caucus vote was 99-58, the WashPost reported.
Contrast that with how House Republicans reacted when their leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, got into ethics trouble.
It's especially interesting to see how Rep. Mark Green, who's now posing as Mr. Ethics, conducted himself when his leader was in ethical trouble.
In November 2004, in a closed-door caucus, Green voted for a rule change to allow DeLay to keep his leadership job even if he was indicted on felony charges.
In January 2005, Green voted to weaken House rules to make it harder to pursue an ethics investigation. After a firestorm in the news media, which correctly claimed the move was intended to protect DeLay from an investigation, Green voted to reverse the changes.
Green, by the way, is still sitting on $30,000 in political action committee contributions from DeLay, months after saying he would dispose of the tainted money. And DeLay has resigned from Congress in disgrace.
UPDATE: Jefferson didn't resign, so the full House removed him from the committee today.
posted by xoff @ 9:48 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Are you seriously equating these issues?
Jefferson’s $100k of bribe money – CASH in his freezer – is not the same as money from lobbyists and Tom Delay.
It would be like saying Doyle’s Travelgate scandal is just as bad as a candidate who forgets to put a disclaimer on their campaign literature.
Catsup contains tomatoes, but catsup is not a tomato. You’re a bright guy, you can figure this out.
The difference of course is in how it's handled. Dems are ready and able to throw Jefferson overboard while Green and his cronies worked overtime to allow their SugarlandDaddy to continue to rob the American political process for their benefit.
Delay systematically defrauded all of America in exchange for his personal power which he then doled out to schlubs like Green and Ryan in return for loyalty and cooperation.
You're right the two don't have equal weight. One was the venal actions of a single corrupt man. The other was the pillaging of our political sytem for personal gain and untrammeled power in perpetuity.
Grumps, you are a god (apologies to Esenberg and burning bush man, Dad29)!
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