No Good Ethics For Us Says GOP

Ben Winkler writes on the Air America?Al Franken website It seems that the GOP is opposed to creating a “bi-partisan task force with equal representation of the majority and minority parties to make recommendations to restore public confidence in the ethics process.” That’s what a House resolution called for--a resolution that was just killed by an almost-party-line 218-195 vote. The only Republicans with the guts to vote for it were Jim Leach of Iowa and Joel Hefley of Colorado. (Hefley, you’ll remember, chaired the ethics committee until he was ousted for adminishing DeLay.) House aides tell us that more than two--possibly nine--Republicans had voted in favor of ethics… that is, until the GOP decided to hold the vote open and twist arms. Under Tom DeLay, this has become standard practice; votes are routinely held open as House leaders intimidate members of Congress into flip-flopping. Keep it up Gop'ers, you are surely destined to be the next minority party come '06 MORE.....