Flood House phone lines with calls on the Ethics Votes!

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [CWATCHDOG] Flood House phone lines with calls on the Ethics Vote!
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 18:07:31 -0500
From: Congress Watchdog CONGRESSWATCHDOG@CITIZEN.ORG

Stop the U.S. House from turning a blind eye to corruption at the
highest levels of government!

As if Congress weren't already awash in corruption and unethical
behavior, the Republican leadership in the House has scheduled a vote
for Tuesday, January 4, on a set of rule changes that would seriously
weaken if not utterly destroy an already lax ethics process - and give a
blatant green light to all forms of corruption among government
officials.

First, the House will decide on a Democratic initiative to reinstate
the so-called "DeLay rule." This rule would require Representatives
elected to House leadership posts to step down if they have been
indicted by a grand jury. This rule was rescinded last year amid
speculation that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay could be indicted as
part of a corruption investigation in Texas.

A separate vote will be held on a series of rule changes, devised by
the House Republican leadership, that will turn the ethics process into
a charade.

We urge you to call your Representative's office now - Democrats as
well as Republicans - and through tomorrow (Tuesday) at Noon EST. Urge
them to vote for reinstating the DeLay rule, and to vote against *any*
new rules that would weaken the ethics process.

Congressional switchboard numbers (just call and ask for your
Representative's office):

202-225-3121
202-224-3121

(Note: the ethics debate will also likely be carried live on C-SPAN TV
tomorrow.)

Additional Background:

As you know from previous messages, the Republican majority is taking
the U.S. House of Representatives down into a morass of ethical
transgression. Fueled by the recent election, and instigated by the
corrupt Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay -
who has had more admonishments and rebukes for unethical behavior than
any other sitting member of Congress - they started by rescinding what
we now call the "DeLay Rule" this past November. Now, in an act of
unparalleled hubris and arrogance, the Republican majority is trying to
go even further.

If these changes to House rules are adopted, they will turn a
dysfunctional ethics system into a virtually non-functioning ethics
system. Among the changes the Republican majority is reportedly going to
bring for a vote before the full House tomorrow:

* Remove the primary standard used to determine if a member of Congress
has violated ethics rules - the appearance of corruption. Currently, it
is a violation of House ethics rules to act in such a way that creates
the appearance of corruption or reflects poorly on the House. This is
the standard the ethics committee typically uses when sanctioning
members for ethical violations, (including in its recent admonishments
of DeLay himself), and it is a standard common to almost all
professions. The Republican leadership proposal to be voted on tomorrow
would eliminate this fundamental ethics standard and make only illegal
activity a violation of ethics rules. In essence, they would change the
ethics standard in the House to "catch me if you can."

* Deadlock the ability of the ethics committee to investigate many
complaints. The ethics committee is evenly split between Republican and
Democratic members, which can lead to a deadlock on whether to
investigate a complaint. Fortunately, under the current rules if no
action is taken within 45 days of receiving a complaint an investigation
by an ethics subcommittee is automatically triggered. The proposed
change would require an affirmative majority vote to conduct an
investigation. This is a recipe for deadlock and gridlock of the ethics
system.

These proposals must be stopped dead in their tracks. In addition, feel
free to speak your outrage over the following:

* There should be no punishment of ethics committee members who
admonished Majority Leader DeLay for ethics transgressions. After being
threatened by some members of the House for admonishing DeLay for
several ethics violations, ethics committee Chairman Joel Hefley
(R-Colo.) now finds himself negotiating with House leaders over whether
he can stay on the committee as chairman. Other members of the ethics
committee may also face retribution. This is a mean-spirited and
vindictive act by House leaders seeking to punish those who dare stand
up to them to do what is in the best interests of the American people.

* Outside groups should be allowed to file legitimate ethics
complaints. It is critical that outside groups be allowed into the
process. This is a right guaranteed by the U.S. Senate. It used to be a
right in the U.S. House until it was taken away in the late 1990s. It is
a right that should be restored tomorrow.

Once again, we urge you to call your Representative's office anytime
between now and Noon on Tuesday - urge them to vote YES on reinstating
the DeLay Rule, and to vote NO on any and all proposals from the
Republican leadership that would weaken the existing ethics process.

Congressional switchboard numbers (just call and ask for your
Representative's office):

202-225-3121
202-224-3121

Public Citizen organized a news conference today with seven other
government watchdog groups to condem this attempt to gut ethics rules.
To read more about this issue, including statements from today's press
conference, please visit our website at http://www.DethroneDeLay.org

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For more information about this, and the other issues Public
Citizen works on, please visit our website at
http://www.citizen.org/