Investigating the criminals in Congress
As the investigation into the 16 criminal charges on Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) heat up, a few interesting things have surfaced:
- Jefferson will resign from his sole committee seat on the House Small Business Committee. Freshman Democratic Congressman Steve Kagan of Wisconsin thinks Jefferson should go a step further, and resign from Congress altogether.
- House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wants Jefferson run out of town. However, he wasn't so eager to remove another indicted House member, disgraced former Rep. Tom DeLay. Guess expulsion is only good for Republicans when it is not one of their own being expelled, no matter how guilty the bastard is.
UPDATE 6/7 - Only 26 House members voted against Boehner's measure. One of them was Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), a scandal-in-waiting if ever there was one.
- The House overwhelmingly passed a bill that directs the House Ethics Committee to launch an investigation within 30 days of the indictment of a House member, or present reasons why it does not need to. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to go one step further: She wants to set up a bipartisan outside-the-House commission whose purpose is to file ethics complaints. As the system works now, only House members can file ethics complaints against other House members (which becomes a "don't tell on me and I won't tell on you" situation when both sides are dirty). The House Ethics Committee would not be obligated to act on complaints generated by the outside committee, but it would be a start. Also being considered is allowing anyone to file ethics complaints. As it is, the outside panel will meet resistance from congressmen of both parties; however, this is a change whose time has come, and is a responsible move by House Democrats, who campaigned partly on cleaning up the House.
- Last but definitely not least, FOX News, as always, shows their true colors. They "accidentally" showed pictures of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) while discussing Rep. Jefferson's ethics violations! Their "apology" did not directly address Rep. Conyers (which, in my opinion, it should have), and Conyers is not having any of it.
- Jefferson will resign from his sole committee seat on the House Small Business Committee. Freshman Democratic Congressman Steve Kagan of Wisconsin thinks Jefferson should go a step further, and resign from Congress altogether.
- House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wants Jefferson run out of town. However, he wasn't so eager to remove another indicted House member, disgraced former Rep. Tom DeLay. Guess expulsion is only good for Republicans when it is not one of their own being expelled, no matter how guilty the bastard is.
UPDATE 6/7 - Only 26 House members voted against Boehner's measure. One of them was Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), a scandal-in-waiting if ever there was one.
- The House overwhelmingly passed a bill that directs the House Ethics Committee to launch an investigation within 30 days of the indictment of a House member, or present reasons why it does not need to. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to go one step further: She wants to set up a bipartisan outside-the-House commission whose purpose is to file ethics complaints. As the system works now, only House members can file ethics complaints against other House members (which becomes a "don't tell on me and I won't tell on you" situation when both sides are dirty). The House Ethics Committee would not be obligated to act on complaints generated by the outside committee, but it would be a start. Also being considered is allowing anyone to file ethics complaints. As it is, the outside panel will meet resistance from congressmen of both parties; however, this is a change whose time has come, and is a responsible move by House Democrats, who campaigned partly on cleaning up the House.
- Last but definitely not least, FOX News, as always, shows their true colors. They "accidentally" showed pictures of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) while discussing Rep. Jefferson's ethics violations! Their "apology" did not directly address Rep. Conyers (which, in my opinion, it should have), and Conyers is not having any of it.
posted by Minister of Propaganda @ 6/06/2007 11:46:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home