Kettle calls kettle black:Hastert frustrated over ethics impasse he caused

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http://www.c-span.org/capitolspotlight/index.asp

Speaker Expresses Frustration About Ethics Impasse June 15, 2005
by Congressional Quarterly

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert on Wednesday made his strongest statements yet about his frustration over the failure of the ethics committee to begin its work, but he did not give in to Democrats and insisted that the committee has to resolve its stalemate without his intervention. The committee has been unable to start investigating cases this year because of a dispute over who should supervise the bipartisan staff. Hastert said he thinks it is "unconscionable" that Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has yet to take on any new cases because of the disagreement between Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and ranking member Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has asked Hastert to step in, but the Speaker said, "Two adult chairman ought to be able to sit down and hire staff and go to work without somebody meddling in how they operate." "I refuse to meddle in that process," said Hastert, R-Ill. Hastings wants to appoint his former personal office chief of staff to supervise the committee staff. The aide in question, Ed Cassidy, was put on the committee payroll earlier this year, serving as Hastings' liaison. Mollohan said such a move would violate a committee rule specifying that the staff should be nonpartisan professionals approved by the entire committee. Mollohan believes the chief-of-staff role should be filled by a lawyer who does not work for a member. Hasting and Mollohan said earlier this week they would be unable to tackle the problem until the completion of the Science, State, Justice and Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Mollohan is the ranking member on that subcommittee. Meanwhile, old and new ethics cases have begun to pile up, including one concerning House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who has been the subject of news articles questioning several of his expense-paid trips and his association with lobbyists. DeLay said on Tuesday that he is "concerned" about the committee's inaction, but sides with Hastings on management of the staff. He said Democrats are shutting down the committee purposefully so that any investigation into Republicans occurs close to the 2006 election cycle. "They want it to function in an election year, not this year," DeLay said. "Surely the two sides can come together and if they can't agree on one person doing it, then set up the staff like a bipartisan committee is set up. Have Mollohan hire a co-staff director and have Hastings hire a co-staff director. That would solve the problem." House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats, "could ask for the appointment of a special investigator to undertake an investigation," if the ethics committee remains unable to function. "We haven't really talked about it but it is an option," Hoyer said. "We are hopeful the ethics committee will do its duty."