[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REPUBLICAN ETHICS REVERSAL

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, the House Republican majority finally did 
the right thing last week when it restored bipartisan ethics rules. 
Republicans fortunately caved to public criticism. And now, as the 
Ethics Committee gets ready to organize, we will see if the Republican 
majority is really interested in restoring the integrity of this 
institution.
  The new chairman of the Ethics Committee has said that he wants to 
appoint his chief of staff from his personal office to be the new staff 
director of the Ethics Committee. This action would defy House rules, 
which explicitly state that Ethics Committee staffers are to be 
nonpartisan. The rule is important since the actions of the Ethics 
Committee are intended to protect the integrity of this institution, 
not the integrity of an individual Member of either political party.
  By appointing a Republican as the main staffer on the Ethics 
Committee, the Republican majority would undermine any decision that 
came out of the committee. I would hope that Chairman Hastings would 
reconsider this political appointment before the Ethics Committee 
organizes in the coming days.

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