[Davis Democrats] DeLay's Ethical Problems Bring More Shame -petition to remove him

[John Chendo]

----------
From: "Chellie Pingree, CEO Common Cause" <CauseNet at commoncause.org>
Reply-To: <CauseNet at commoncause.org>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 15:39:48 -0800
To: "john chendo" <jac07 at dcn.org>
Subject: DeLay's Ethical Problems Bring More Shame .


Dear john,

As we predicted a couple of weeks ago, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) was ousted
today <http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990566706939211453865>  as
chairman of the House Ethics Committee.  In replacing Hefley, House Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is sending a clear signal that partisan politics
trumps accountability and ethical standards in the "people's House."
 
Rep. Hefley led an Ethics Committee that took difficult steps in
investigating and ultimately admonishing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990596706939211453865>  (R-TX) for
unethical behavior three separate times last year.  Today, Rep. Hefley's
leadership is being tossed aside as an apparent punishment for having the
chutzpah to stand up to DeLay and carry out his duty as Ethics Committee
Chairman honorably. 

It seems DeLay's ethical crisis has brought yet another dishonor to the
House leadership, which felt compelled to remove someone who actually
believed in upholding ethical standards
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990606706939211453865> .  This is why
it is so important for all of us to make an unequivocal statement
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990616706939211453865>  that we cannot
let the leadership in DeLay's Congress compromise all ethical standards and
trump accountability with partisan politics.  So if you haven't already,
please sign our petition
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990646706939211453865>  calling for
DeLay to step down as the Majority Leader:

www.commoncause.org/StepDownDeLay

We have set a goal of collecting 100,000 signatures before we present the
petition, and we have already collected well over 50,000.  So, if you have
already signed our petition please forward
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990676706939211453865>  it to all of
your family, friends or colleagues and urge them to join our campaign to
hold DeLay accountable:

http://www.commoncause.org/joinDeLayPetition

We don't know yet what kind of Ethics Committee Hefley's replacement, Rep.
Doc Hastings (R-WA), will run.  But given the rules changes the House
leaders passed <http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990696706939211453865>
 last month that will make it much harder to initiate investigations, plus
the chilling cloud under which they showed Hefley the door, it is hard to
imagine there will be much activity.
 
House leaders claim that they replaced Hefley as ethics chairman due to term
limits.  Yet on the first day of the 109th Congress the same leaders waived
the term limit rule so Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) could serve another term as
Chairman of the Rules Committee.  Clearly the leadership could have allowed
Hefley to stay on if they wanted.

Again, we cannot afford to sit back and let this kind of partisan power play
go unchecked.  So if you have not done so already, please make sure to sign
on to our campaign to remove DeLay
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66990706706939211453865>  as the Majority
Leader of the "people's House," where partisan politics today trumped
accountability and ethical standards.

Thank you for all you do for Common Cause.

Sincerely, 

Chellie Pingree
President & CEO, Common Cause

Support Common Cause:
www.commoncause.org/Support

  

  


  

To remove yourself from this mailing, please click here
<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66992696706939211453865>