| Page 2 of 2 < |
House Ethics Standstill Stalls DeLay Decision
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"They don't want an ethics committee," he said. "They would like to drag this out and have me and others before the ethics committee in an election year. . . . Yet no one seems to want to notice."
Rep. Jack Kingston (Ga.), vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, said Democrats "have every motivation in the world" to keep the panel from functioning.
"The national media has convicted a member of our leadership without giving him due process," he said. "What the Democrats fear is that if the ethics committee gets together, they might be able to successfully embarrass a couple of our guys, but I think we'll be able to get 10 to 15 of theirs who we know have some very interesting issues that need to be discussed."
Mollohan, a corporate lawyer whose father was a congressman from West Virginia for 18 years, said that the possibility of a political motivation for the stalemate "has not occurred to me," and that the accusation "says more about the people who are suggesting it than it does about me."
House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said: "Democrats want to follow the rules; Republicans don't."
Hastings was stung by news stories that said he was named to head the panel in February because the GOP leadership considered him more pliant than his predecessor, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), who presided last fall when the committee admonished DeLay three times for his official conduct.
So Hastings successfully argued for a larger budget for the committee and an expansion of its staff from 13 to 19. Because of vacancies, the current staff is 10, and officials in both parties said it will take months of advertising and interviewing to bring it to full strength after the two parties resolve their differences.
Cullen, 57, heads the team on white-collar and government investigations at the McGuireWoods law firm in Richmond. He was appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and was appointed attorney general by George Allen, then the governor and now U.S. senator, in 1997 to fill out a term.
Cullen joins a legal team that includes Bobby R. Burchfield, who oversees legal affairs affecting DeLay; Edwin R. Bethune, a former House member from Arkansas; Don McGahn, general counsel of the National Republican Congressional Committee; and Barbara Comstock of Blank Rome, who works on communications strategy and rapid response.
