Moonage Political Webdream

House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, according to GOP leaders….

House GOP leaders and aides said many rank-and-file Republicans are eager to change the rule to help DeLay, and will do so if given a chance at today’s closed meeting. A handful of them have proposed language for changing the rule, and they will be free to offer amendments, officials said. Some aides said it was conceivable that DeLay and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) ultimately could decide the move would be politically damaging and ask their caucus not to do it……

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last night: "If they make this rules change, Republicans will confirm yet again that they simply do not care if their leaders are ethical. If Republicans believe that an indicted member should be allowed to hold a top leadership position in the House of Representatives, their arrogance is astonishing."….

OK, here’s the situation a little more clearly:

In 1994, Rostenkowski was indicted on corruption charges and stepped down as Ways and Means chairman; he lost his House seat in the Congressional elections later that year. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 1996, and was fined and served (1996-97) a 17-month sentence.

During the process of indicting and convicting Rostenkowski, it took a few years.  It wasn’t one charge that caused the problems, it was a laundry list of corruption. During that process, Rostenkowski remained on several key legislative committees.  This posed an ethics problem in that Rostenkowski was chairman of the committee that in theory would see if he was guilty of ethics violations.  So, the Republicans passed a rules change that prevented someone under indictment to chair certain committees.

Fast forward about a decade:

A Travis County grand jury returned 32 indictments in the 2002 Republican fund-raising investigation Tuesday, alleging felony election code violations against a top aide to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, the head of a political group DeLay founded and eight corporations that provided money for their activities.

Tom Delay has issues.  Although he’s not been indicted, yet, the noose is tightening.  Some Republicans are now wanting to change the rules to allow him to retain his chairmanship.  Now, there is a big difference between the Rostenkowski situation and Delay’s.  Primarily, Delay is the Majority Leader.  Although it is a powerful position for sure, it does not have any effect on the ethics investigations.  Rostenkowski’s position did.  The intent of the original rules change was to allow for an unbiased ethics investigation.  That can still happen with the new proposed changes.  If Delay is convicted, he still loses his position and possibly his seat.

However, IMO, the realities are the same now as they were for Rostenkowski.  Rostenkowski did everything legally possible to obstruct the investigations into his activities.  This effort only intensified the efforts by Republicans to see him gone.  It also played into the public perception that he was a crook.  If the rules are changed for Delay, it presents that perception as well.  Delay says he is not concerned with the rules change effort.  I think he needs to go farther and oppose the rules change outright.  If he is indicted, temporarily resign his position, and if he wins the legal battle, get his position back.  If the people who support him enough to change the rules truly do support him, getting his position back would not be a problem.

And, it sure plays better with the press.

Technorati Tags: Legislative Process

Tags: Legislative Process

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