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| Dems Crawfish on Ethics Panel Debate |
| Saturday, April 23, 2005 |
The Democratic leadership has railed against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's alleged ethics violations. But now that Republican Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings is offering to open an investigation, Democrats won't take yes for an answer.
Since the committee is evenly split with five members from each party, a lengthy investigation requires crossover support from at least one member of the other party.
Of course, the boycott also keeps Democrats from being investigated, a point made by House Speaker Dennis Hastert in an interview with FOX News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday.
"We know there's probably four or five cases out there dealing with top-level Democrats. There's a reason that they don't want to go to the ethics process," Hastert said.
A former DeLay aide, Bob Rusbuldt said Democrats may not really want an investigation of the Republican leader.
"If Tom DeLay is exonerated, they've lost their 'devil incarnate' in the press. And they might not want to have Tom DeLay exonerated or actually know the true facts," he said.
"As long as they can keep someone dangling out there like they have with Tom DeLay, they take great glee in that," Hastert said.
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posted by J.R. @ 10:41:00 AM   |
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