GOP Fear Fallout From New Ethics Probes

Various file photos of House members under investigation by federal authorities. Top row, from left are, Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif.; Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa.; Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.; and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Bottom row, from left are, Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.; Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.; Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.; and Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. (AP Photo/File) (AP)

Doolittle's committee seat went to Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. The FBI retrieved copies of Calvert's annual financial disclosure statements following reports last year that Calvert steered millions of federal dollars to projects near his private real estate developments.

Calvert says the FBI has not contacted him and he has no reason to believe he is a target. But that hasn't stopped the widely read conservative blog RedState.com from repeatedly denouncing Calvert's appointment to the Appropriations Committee.

Joining the attack recently was Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. He said Calvert "would seem to fit in more with the party" that keeps Jefferson and Mollohan in office "than with a party that has made great strides in trying to clean up its image."

Aside from Doolittle, Republican operatives are most concerned about Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., who gave up his House intelligence committee seat last month after FBI agents raided his wife's insurance business.

Renzi paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes while settling charges that his businesses improperly paid for his first congressional campaign. He also faces an inquiry into whether he used his House seat to help a former business partner make land swaps.

Other Republican House members recently under federal scrutiny include:

_Jerry Lewis of California: Prosecutors in Los Angeles are examining how millions of dollars in federal contracts were steered to a company whose founders were big contributors to Lewis' campaigns while he chaired the House Appropriations Committee.

_Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania: Murphy declined comment on published reports that authorities are investigating whether his legislative aides performed campaign work while on government time.

_Gary Miller of California: Miller says he has no reason to believe he is under investigation, but Democrats have run Web-based attack ads citing published reports that federal agents have looked into some land deals involving the lawmaker.

Jessica Boulanger, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Democratic attacks on the ethics front will have little effect. Democrats, she said, "are proving incapable of governing, so it's no wonder they're dusting off their '06 playbook in an effort to hide their failed leadership."