by TChris

Stung by last year's decision of the House ethics committee to deliver three admonishments to Tom DeLay for his ethical lapses, House Republicans assured that their misdeeds would evade committee scrutiny this year by requiring a majority vote of the equally divided committee before an ethics complaint can be investigated. While House Republicans backed away from the other efforts to undermine ethical standards that TalkLeft discussed here, they are not in complete agreement as to the wisdom of yesterday's action.

The chairman of the committee, formally the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said there is "no question" that the move will weaken ethics enforcement. He said he would work to roll back the change. "It's a bad mistake," he said.

While Hefley may have the courage to vote in favor of investigating complaints against Republicans, he knows that he won't have that opportunity. His term is expiring, and he's not counting on his colleagues to keep him in the post.

"I assume that I'm going to get booted," he said.