WP: GOP Pushes Rule Change To Protect DeLay's Post

[kskiska]

Wednesday, November 17, 2004; Page A01

House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, according to GOP leaders.

The proposed rule change, which several leaders predicted would win approval at a closed meeting today, comes as House Republicans return to Washington feeling indebted to DeLay for the slightly enhanced majority they won in this month's elections. DeLay led an aggressive redistricting effort in Texas last year that resulted in five Democratic House members retiring or losing reelection. It also triggered a grand jury inquiry into fundraising efforts related to the state legislature's redistricting actions.

House GOP leaders and aides said many rank-and-file Republicans are eager to change the rule to help DeLay, and will do so if given a chance at today's closed meeting. A handful of them have proposed language for changing the rule, and they will be free to offer amendments, officials said. Some aides said it was conceivable that DeLay and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) ultimately could decide the move would be politically damaging and ask their caucus not to do it. But Rep. Jack Kingston (Ga.), another member of the GOP leadership, said he did not think Hastert and DeLay would intervene.

House Republicans adopted the indictment rule in 1993, when they were trying to end four decades of Democratic control of the House, in part by highlighting Democrats' ethical lapses. They said at the time that they held themselves to higher standards than prominent Democrats such as then-Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (Ill.), who eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to prison.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54572-2004Nov16.html

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

1. "restore honor and integrity to government"

yep


pity this won't be as newsworthy as john kerry's suntan

[rpannier]

2. Gotta love those law and order types

They believe in law and order when it's someone else.

[fidgeting wildly]

5. Exactly. Saw this on dailykos:

"House Republicans in 1993 -- trying to underscore the ethics problems of Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), then-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- adopted the rule that requires a party leader to surrender his or her post if indicted by any grand jury, federal or state." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/16/18633/220

In other words, "Do as I say, not as I do."

[Nancy Waterman]

3. I just had a very bad thought

Would Tom Delay ever run for president? If the corporate media gets behind him, he could replace the current fascist regime with another one. I know it is a very bad thought, but such are easy these days.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x996416