House rolls back ethics rules changes

Several hours later, DeLay seemed to be in a jovial mood at his weekly news conference, where he pledged to support the reversal and said he was pulling together 10 years of travel records for a voluntary submission to the ethics committee.

He denied playing any role in the partisan rules changes that passed the House in January or in the reversal Wednesday.

“This has been the speaker’s project all along,” he said.

Rules changed in January
The rules in effect before January allowed investigations to begin if the ethics chairman and ranking minority member failed to act on a complaint in 45 days and no other member requested full committee consideration. The Republican changes provided for an automatic dismissal in case of a tie, a procedure that Hastert said was needed to avoid keeping members in limbo.

In a letter to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Hastert wrote that the changes pushed through in January were an attempt to correct inequities.

Given Democratic opposition, he proposed reverting to the old rules, “leaving the unfairness inherent in the old system in place.”

At the same time, he said he hoped the ethics committee could recommend changes for the future.

Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., who supported the Republican retreat, said the GOP move “doesn’t mean Democrats will stop going after DeLay.”

Hefley was dumped by Hastert as chairman of the evenly divided committee after the panel admonished DeLay. He has been one of the few Republicans who opposed the rule changes from the beginning.

Republican lawmakers, who would not be identified by name because their meeting was closed, said some GOP congressmen didn’t want to stop the fight, believing the party could still win the political battle.

McDermott could also face investigation
Lawmakers said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, backed Hastert in the meeting and noted that a functioning ethics committee wouldn’t only open the door for an investigation of DeLay. It would also permit further action on an ethics complaint filed last year against Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington.

McDermott is accused of violating House rules by leaking to reporters a taped telephone conversation.

Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the committee, said, “To this point the speaker’s actions have been positive. The proposal will be considered and evaluated by the bipartisan yardstick.”

At the same time, Mollohan and aides to Pelosi insisted that committee staff must be hired on a bipartisan basis. Republicans early this year unilaterally fired two holdover staff members.

Pelosi said the Republican reversal was “a victory for the American people. Americans understood what was at stake — the integrity of the House — and in one voice demanded that the House return to a credible, viable and nonpartisan ethics process.”

Hastert bristled at talk of Democrats dictating committee staffing. “If they get one thing, they’ll want another,” he said in a brief interview.

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