Society Issues Talk

Harry Hope · Guest

From The Associated Press, 3/7/07:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6463234,00.html

Republicans Could Face New Ethics Probes

By LARRY MARGASAK

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -

Republicans could face ethics investigations for contacting U.S.
attorneys about pending cases, a jarring political development only
four months after ethical lapses helped cost the GOP control of
Congress.

Two veteran Republican lawmakers and a top GOP leadership aide
contacted prosecutors who later were fired.

All three denied wrongdoing.

Democratic-run committees in both the House and Senate are
investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Six of those prosecutors told Congress on Tuesday they felt pressured
by the interventions.

The Senate ethics committee already is conducting a preliminary
inquiry into the call by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to a prosecutor
in his state.

The action was required once the committee received a complaint
against Domenici from a congressional watchdog group.

The House's ethics panel has more discretion on starting an initial
inquiry.

But Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said there should be one.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., contacted the same prosecutor as
Domenici.

Edward Cassidy, a top aide to House Republican leader John Boehner of
Ohio and a former ethics committee staff member, contacted a
prosecutor in Washington state.

The Senate's ethics manual says Senate offices should refrain from
intervening in pending court actions ``until the matter has reached a
resolution in the courts.''

The House's version has similar warnings.

Cassidy's case presents a potential conflict for the senior Republican
on the House ethics committee, Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington state.

Cassidy was his top aide in his personal office and on the committee.

Hastings normally would play a crucial role in the evenly divided
committee, in deciding whether to begin an initial investigation and
appointing an investigative subcommittee.

He would not comment Tuesday on whether he planned to remove himself
from any committee decisions.

Hoyer, a key architect of the Democrats' takeover of the House,
expressed no reluctance to jump on the new Republican dilemma.

``When issues are raised in the public sphere, I think the committee
has a responsibility on its own, and I would hope they would do
that,'' Hoyer told reporters.

Democrats made GOP ethical misdeeds a major issue in the fall
campaign.

They singled out former GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the subject of
several ethics probes, and were handed a pre-election scandal when it
was disclosed that former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., made advances to
former male teenage pages.

The firing of eight U.S. attorneys has raised questions about how they
are appointed and the circumstances under which they may be dismissed.
Last year's renewal of the USA Patriot Act, the Bush administration's
prime anti-terror law, contained a provision that abolished limits on
how long interim prosecutors may serve.

Democrats have accused the Justice Department of seeking to use the
provision to bypass the Senate confirmation process.

Legislation has been introduced to reverse that provision.

The fired prosecutor from New Mexico, David Iglesias, told senators he
had a brief telephone conversation with Domenici in late October 2006
that ended when Domenici abruptly hung up.

Iglesias said he had just told the senator that indictments in a
corruption case against Democrats would not be handed down before the
November elections.

Iglesias also said he received a call from Wilson before the election,
in which she asked him about sealed indictments - a topic prosecutors
cannot discuss.

Wilson's question ``raised red flags in my head,'' Iglesias said.

John McKay, the fired U.S. attorney in Seattle, said he stopped
Cassidy - the Hastings assistant - from asking him detailed questions
about an investigation into the disputed election of Washington
state's Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire in 2004.

Domenici had a much different recollection than Iglesias about his
call to the prosecutor.

He said in a statement that Iglesias ``confirmed that our conversation
was brief and that my words did not threaten him, nor did I direct him
to take any course of action. While I recall, as I stated previously,
that I asked Mr. Iglesias about timing of the investigation, neither I
nor those who overheard my side of the brief conversation recall my
mentioning the November election to him.''

Wilson said she called the prosecutor after a constituent ``with
knowledge of ongoing investigations'' told her that Iglesias was
intentionally delaying corruption prosecutions.

``I called Mr. Iglesias and told him the allegation, though not the
source,'' she said.

``Mr. Iglesias denied delaying prosecutions. He said he had very few
people to handle corruption cases. I told him that I would take him at
his word, and I did. ``

She added, ``If the purpose of my call has somehow been misperceived,
I am sorry for any confusion.''

Hastings defended his former aide, saying Cassidy's call was ``a
simple inquiry and nothing more'' about Washington state's close
gubernatorial election.

Cassidy called his call to McKay ``a routine effort to determine
whether allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 gubernatorial election
were, or were not, being investigated by federal authorities.''

``As the top aide to the chairman of the House ethics committee, I
understood the permissible limits on any such conversation,'' Cassidy
said.

_________________________________________________

Each new day brings us a new batch of Republican scandals

Harry