DeLay Woes Prompt Rush to Refile Forms

The threats and maneuvering mark the end of an ethics truce that has existed between the parties since the battles that led to the downfall of House speakers Jim Wright (D-Tex.) in 1989 and Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in 1998. Since then, the parties have largely refrained from filing charges against each other out of a calculation that they both lose in such contests.

Jan W. Baran, a Republican lobbying and campaign finance expert at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, says that in reaction to DeLay's woes, none of his clients who are members of Congress are traveling at the expense of private interests these days.

"My overall impression about members is that they're not taking any trips for the time being," he said. Baran said he also has been e-mailing handouts to clients who want to be reminded of the rules.

Kenneth A. Gross of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom said he is "getting more calls asking what is the letter of the law."

"There will be fewer sponsored trips," he predicted. "There's going to be more of a reluctance to fund some of these trips, and those that happen will be less extravagant."

The spate of new filings raises questions about the completeness and accuracy of congressional travel records, which are based on the honor system.

An aide to DeLay sent letters to the House clerk and the ethics committee on March 22 reporting that he "discovered today that I inadvertently neglected to file" two travel reports for conferences in December and January with a total reported cost of $1,500.

Yesterday, an aide to Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Tex.) filed a report saying she had not reported an $800 trip to Austin in January "due to pressing House business."

Two Republican freshmen -- Reps. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.) and Lynn A. Westmoreland (Ga.) -- addressed a letter to Pelosi saying she "may have violated House Rules regarding privately sponsored travel" with a trip to Puerto Rico in 2001. Pelosi's aides supplied canceled checks that they said showed the trip was paid for by a nonprofit group, not a lobbyist.

The brouhaha arose because Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who had accompanied Pelosi on the trip, had listed the lobbyist as the sponsor -- in error, she said.

The Legislative Resource Center, a green-carpeted reading room in the Cannon House Office Building where travel records are filed in fat black binders, is usually quiet. But suddenly it is abuzz as lawmakers update their filings and journalists and political operatives troll through the three-hole-punched disclosures.

"Every time we go down there to check on something or refile something, we have noticed someone is going through our file," said Jason C. Roe, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.). "Some people are just resigned that everyone is going to get kicked in the teeth while this goes on."

Feeney had listed a lobbying firm as the sponsor of a 2003 trip to Florida. But his staff said that a nonprofit group had paid, after the Washington Times asked about the filing. Roe apologized for the "clerical error."

Today, the House ethics committee plans to hold an hour-long "ethics briefing" for members and staff as a primer on ethics rules, including rules on gifts, travel, campaign activity and outside employment.

Staff writer Jeffrey H. Birnbaum contributed to this report.