Posted on 05/17/2006 4:57:02 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - In a burst of activity that ended 16 months of inaction, the House ethics committee on Wednesday opened investigations of a Republican and a Democrat who are subjects of federal bribery inquiries. One lawmaker is connected to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, who had strong ties to Abramoff and accepted favors from him, will be investigated along with Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La. A former aide to Ney pleaded guilty last week, admitting he tried to corrupt the congressman. Two businessmen have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson.
The committee also will conduct a preliminary inquiry into whether other lawmakers were involved in a bribery scandal that led to the conviction of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif.
In a separate announcement, the committee said it would have investigated overseas travel by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but will not do so because the Texas Republican soon is leaving Congress. The committee does not have jurisdiction over lawmakers once they leave.
Ney said he welcomed the investigation.
"For the last 15 months, all I have asked for is an opportunity to have the facts surrounding the Abramoff matter to be reviewed by the appropriate investigative bodies in order to have this matter addressed once and for all," Ney said in a statement.
He has stepped aside as chairman of the House Administration Committee because of an investigation by the Justice Department.
Ney said he has volunteered two separate times to appear before the committee and "lay out the real facts of these matters, instead of having the distortions and innuendo that have been reported in the national media be taken as truth."
Jefferson's office had no immediate comment; the lawmaker has previously denied wrongdoing.
The simultaneous investigations of Ney and Jefferson give a bipartisan tone at a time when Democrats are trying to make a campaign issue out of Republican misconduct.
The committee of five Republicans and five Democrats had been in a partisan deadlock since the beginning of last year. The House GOP leadership removed two GOP members of the committee and the Republican chairman after they had admonished DeLay for his conduct. Since then, the committee has fought over committee rules and staffing, and failed to get a sixth vote to begin any investigation.
In April, the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record) of West Virginia, stepped down from the committee after published reports questioned his role in steering federal money to nonprofit group led by his supporters. Mollohan had feuded constantly with the current chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (news, bio, voting record), R-Wash.
Replacing Mollohan was Rep. Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., who earlier was the committee's top Democrat. Berman had good relations with Republicans on the panel.
Ney's former top aide, Neil Volz, admitted he conspired to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets, meals, jobs for relatives and fundraising events.
Volz said he engaged in a conspiracy, the intent of which was "to influence members of Congress in violation of the law."
Volz enumerated 16 actions he said his old boss took on behalf of Abramoff clients. During the period, from January 2000 through April 2004, Volz said Abramoff and his lobbyists gave Ney and members of his staff trips to Lake George in New York state, New Orleans, the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., in 2003, and a weeklong golfing retreat to St. Andrews in Scotland, with a second leg to London.
In addition, Volz wrote, Abramoff gave the congressman and his staff numerous tickets to concerts and sporting events in the Washington, D.C., area; regular meals and drinks at restaurants including Abramoff's restaurant Signatures and unreported use of Abramoff's box suites at the MCI Center Arena in Washington and Camden Yards Stadium in Baltimore for political fundraisers for Ney and for candidates and political organizations he supported.
As for Jefferson, a Louisville, Ky., man pleaded guilty in federal court this month to bribing the congressman with more than $400,000 in payments, company stock and a share of the profits to promote a Kentucky company's high-tech business ventures in Africa.
Vernon L. Jackson, 53, owner of Louisville-based iGate Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe and bribery.
Jackson is the second person to plead guilty to charges of bribing the eight-term Democrat to promote iGate's broadband technology — including Internet and cable television — in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.
What about McDermott and McKinney?
And wasn't it the Dems who were blocking this committee from action?
In a burst of activity,, is how the article starts... considering they haven't been doing any business for ages..
maybe they'll get around to this tomorrow or next week. ;-)
You're right as to who was blocking the committee from even starting to do its job.
They must be running out of dogs and ponys in DC.
Why would a former aid now working for Abramoff need to try to corrupt an already corrupted congressman? It would seem to me that he would only need to try to corrupt a congressman if the congressman had not yet been corrupted by Abramoff.
Makes about as much sense as charging a man with trying to get a pregnant woman pregnant. It only makes sense if she ain't pregnant already.
Some updated info:
House Panel OKs Abramoff-Related Probe By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The House ethics committee, paralyzed by political gridlock for some 16 months, broke out of its doldrums by announcing four separate investigations, including the first congressional probe of a lawmaker linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
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The panel had become the symbol of political impotence as its five Republicans and five Democrats fought furiously amid a slew of bribery allegations that blackened the congressional image.
During all of this, Abramoff admitted providing trips, meals and other gifts to lawmakers in return for legislative favors, and he is cooperating with a Justice Department investigation that could involve a number of legislators.
The ethics committee's chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (news, bio, voting record), R-Wash., and the panel's new top Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record) of California, announced Wednesday that the committee would look into possible rules violations by Ohio Republican Bob Ney and a Democrat, William Jefferson of Louisiana.
The Ney investigation will focus on whether he received gifts and other benefits from Abramoff and his lobbying team in return for official actions.
The Jefferson probe will consider whether the lawmaker or family members received cash, stock or other financial benefits from a technology company, iGate, and several individuals in return for helping the company as it sought business in Africa.
The committee leaders didn't stop there.
They initiated an inquiry into whether other lawmakers were involved in a bribery scandal that landed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., in prison with an eight-year sentence.
The fourth announcement concerned Rep. Tom DeLay, and would have been far more dramatic a few months ago when he was still majority leader. The ethics leaders said they would have investigated the financing of DeLay's overseas travel had he not decided to leave Congress on June 9 to fight an indictment on a separate investigation in Texas.
The ethics panel has no jurisdiction over lawmakers once they leave Congress. Records have shown that Abramoff or his clients financed some of DeLay's travel. The Texas Republican has denied any misconduct.
By targeting a member of each party, committee leaders avoided allegations of partisanship in a year when Democrats are trying to make Republican misconduct a major campaign issue. Despite the inclusion of Jefferson, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the announcement "long overdue."
Ney's former top aide pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to corrupt the congressman on behalf of Abramoff and his clients. Two businessmen have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson to promote iGate's operations in Africa.
Ney said he welcomed the investigation. Jefferson had no immediate comment.
"For the last 15 months, all I have asked for is an opportunity to have the facts surrounding the Abramoff matter to be reviewed by the appropriate investigative bodies in order to have this matter addressed once and for all," Ney said in a statement.
Ney's former leading aide, Neil Volz, admitted he conspired to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets, meals, jobs for relatives and fundraising events.
Volz enumerated 16 actions he said his old boss took on behalf of Abramoff clients.
Jefferson's office had no immediate comment; the lawmaker has previously denied wrongdoing.
The ethics committee had been unable to forge a majority for any investigations since the beginning of last year. The stalemate began when the House GOP leadership removed two Republican members of the committee, along with the Republican chairman, after they had admonished DeLay for his conduct. Since then, the committee has fought over committee rules and staffing.
In April, the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record) of West Virginia, stepped down after published reports questioned his role in steering federal money to nonprofit group led by his supporters. Mollohan had feuded constantly with the current chairman, Hastings.
Replacing Mollohan was Berman, who earlier was the committee's top Democrat. Berman had good relations with Republicans on the panel.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, said the switch made all the difference.
"Isn't it interesting that when the chief Democrat quits the stalled ethics panel under scrutiny, his replacement is able to easily work with House Republicans to move the process forward?" Bonjean said.
___
On the Net:
House ethics committee: http://www.house.gov/ethics
Volz admits bribing Ney, but Ney doesn't admit taking the bribe.
I don't think your pregnancy analogy is spot on.
This is more like the Democrats saying that Monica Lewinsky had sex with Bill Clinton, but Bill Clinton didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky.
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