Posted on 03/11/2010 1:45:30 PM PST by Servant of the Cross
House Democrats on Thursday stopped a Republican bid to force an investigation of Democratic leaders aimed at determining whether they covered up sexual harassment allegations against ex-Rep. Eric Massa.
Even in failure, Republicans planted questions about when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned about allegations from Massa's employees that he sexually harassed male staff members. The freshman New York Democrat resigned Monday amid a slew of conflicting statements in which he confirmed and denied that he groped staff members and argued that none of the contact was sexual.
By trying to make Democratic leaders rather than Massa the investigative subjects, Republicans attempted to turn the tables on the party that used ethical misconduct to win control of the House in 2006.
Republicans were hurt in that campaign by revelations that GOP leaders took no action after learning that then-Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent sexually suggestive messages to former male pages.
In a resolution demanding an investigation with a June 30 deadline, House Republican leader John Boehner pointed to a meeting last October between Massa's top aide and a Pelosi staff member.
Pelosi said in a March 4 news conference, after news stories appeared about Massa's conduct, that she only learned of the harassment allegations the previous day.
"I asked my staff, I said, 'Have there been any rumors about any of this before?' There had been a rumor, but just that, no formal notification to our office," she said.
Pelosi said her staff did not report the rumor to her, "because, you know what? This is rumor city. Every single day there are rumors. I have a job to do and not to be the receiver of rumors."
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office said a Massa aide went to the leader's staff in February with the allegations. Hoyer told one of his own aides to inform the Massa staffer that either Massa _ or someone on Massa's staff _ needed to go to ethics committee promptly. Hoyer said he would report it if Massa or his staff did not. The Massa staffer reported the allegations.
The Republican maneuver to force an investigation was part of an all-out GOP effort to highlight Democratic ethical and legal problems in advance of the fall campaign.
Rep. Charles Rangel, a 20-term Democrat, had to step aside as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee after the ethics committee found he violated gift rules by accepting corporate money to attend two Caribbean conferences.
Rangel remains under investigation, prolonging the political agony for Democrats. The committee is investigating whether he used his official position to raise money for a college center named after him, and is looking into his belated reporting of hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets.
The resolution introduced by Boehner would have given the ethics committee no choice about investigating what Democratic leaders knew about Massa. Instead, the House voted 402-1 to allow the ethics committee to decide its next step.
The committee has five members from each party, but a tie vote would kill any proposal to investigate Democratic leaders.
The committee ended its investigation of Massa on Wednesday because his resignation took his case out the committee's jurisdiction.
Now they have great campaign ad material.
Oh this is so not over.
This article is premature.
Did anyone expect a clear answer after just one day?
Massa gate. This will grow. And as it does, it will derail Obamacare.
And that is a good, good thing.
This should be a national security issue and the Homeland Security should be all over it, but of course, they won’t be.
IF a high ranking official like a congressman is running around playing grab-ass, then they are subject to being blackmailed, and that puts the country at risk. But dems really don’t give a Pelosi’s-ass about that!
Ticklegate aka Snorkelgate is now a coverup. How very Pelosi.
Foxnews says they passed it (Pubbie win) while Townhall says it was defeated (Pubbie loss). Both stories mention the same vote tally.
Which is it?
When the bloodbath happens in the Congress this year and the Repubs are back in charge there had better be some investigations and accountability for stuff.
If the Repubs don’t then they are fools....
No, not Massa gate. It should be Ticklegate aka Snorkelgate.
The vote was overwhelming.
Present.
If the past is prelude, don’t expect the Republicans to do any investigating, as they will start over with a “clean” slate.
Hot Air said it passed as well.
Town Hall headline is wrong — the investigation is still open and referred to Committee:
The vote was 402-1 with 15 lawmakers voting “present.” The one vote in opposition came from Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/11/house-considers-reviving-massa-ethics-probe/
Fox Title: House advances Measure Calling for Expanded Massa Ethics Probe
The resolution introduced by Boehner would have given the ethics committee no choice about investigating what Democratic leaders knew about Massa. Instead, the House voted 402-1 to allow the ethics committee to decide its next step.
See post #14. Can they both be right?
Who knows? THere were two votes on a “privilege of the house”. The first won 404-2, the 2nd 402-1. But Thomas.gov doesn’t have the text of either of these two privileged orders.
My GUESS is that the first vote was to replace the Boehner order with the watered-down Order, and the 2nd vote was on the watered-down Order.
Since republicans voted for both, I presume they were on board with the replacement. Probably they worked out a deal to get the democrat votes — better to have a resolution calling on an investigation that passed, then one that failed.
If the ethics committee doesn’t act, Boehner can bring up his resolution later.
So I would say the republicans won, and that the “they lost” stories are how the democrats asked their minions at the news outlets to spin it.
Hard to argue that a resolution passed with full republican support is a “loss” for republicans.
Truthfully I am not sure. They are keeping it open and I think that is a win.
Is there any way he can be defeated or are we stuck with this Progressive?
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