Foxx Votes to Weaken Ethics in the U.S. House

In her first ever votes as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Madame Foxx voted to weaken the rules governing the ethics of House members. She's made us so-o-o-o proud!

Though the Republican leadership deep-sixed notorious new rules that would have allowed Tom DeLay to continue as Majority Leader if & when he's indicted of crimes, they slipped in another change that cripples ethics investigations in a substantive way, virtually guaranteeing that in this partisan atmosphere, no serious charges against any member will ever go anywhere. In short: The new rules provide that the ethics committee will take no action on a complaint against a member unless the chairman and ranking minority member, or a majority of the committee, find within 45 days that an investigation is merited. Previously a complaint automatically went to an investigative committee if no action was taken within 45 days.

Though Joel Hefley had said earlier he would oppose the rules change, we were watching C-SPAN this afternoon when he spoke in the floor debate in favor. Oh he criticized the weakening of the ethics rules in his speech, trying to have it both ways, but said he'd vote yea and hope to get the rules changed later. The votes on the new bill were all largely straight party-line (one Democrat, apparently, voting with the Republicans).

If you want to ask Madame Foxx directly why she voted to weaken ethics rules, you'll find her snail-mail address here. She can NOT be contacted yet via e-mail through her web site, though we assume that's an omission that will be rectified in due time.