With both Republicans and Democrats scrambling to respond to the Jack Abramoff scandal, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that a number of Democrats may find themselves hauled before the House ethics committee if the panel ever gets back to full operation after a yearlong hiatus, the paid-restricted ROLL CALL reports Wednesday. Excerpts:
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Hastert suggested that Republicans were prepared to file ethics complaints against Democrats but had been prevented from doing so because the committee was not functioning.
While Hastert did not single out any Democrats by name in his remarks, GOP insiders said Hastert was referring to Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who is under investigation by the Justice Department over his role in the creation of two African telecommunications company. A former Jefferson aide, Brett Pfeffer, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribes by a Member of Congress. The ethics committee is also believed to have begun preliminary investigations into Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.), for allegedly aiding family members.
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Pelosi recently wrote to Hastert urging an ethics investigation into Reps. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) and John Doolittle (R-Calif.) over their dealings with Abramoff. All four men have been mentioned in media reports relating to the ongoing Justice Department probe into Abramoff, although only Ney appears to be in any immediate danger of legal action by the department. Abramoff recently pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, including conspiracy to bribe public officials, and Ney has been identified as “Representative #1” in the Abramoff plea document. DeLay is battling money-laundering charges in Texas that are unrelated to Abramoff.
