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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (47511)	4/10/2006 11:01:27 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 90947

House Democrat Committed 250 Ethics Violations, Group Says By Monisha Bansal CNSNews.com Staff Writer April 10, 2006 (CNSNews.com) - U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) has committed over 250 violations of House ethics rules, according to a conservative legal watchdog group. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed a complaint with the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on Feb. 28, alleging that Mollohan failed to disclose and grossly underreported his assets, loans and interests in certain companies. After filing a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, NLPC stated that "slowly a picture of Mollohan's finances emerged that was sharply different from the one being portrayed in the Financial Disclosure Reports." All members of Congress are required to file the disclosure forms as part of the Ethics in Government Act. Ken Boehm, chairman of the NLPC, said every report Mollohan filed from 1996 to 2004 had "major errors." "The real issue here is not whether Mollohan systematically was hiding financial and real estate assets, and grossly misrepresenting their value. He was. The real issue is why he was hiding those assets," Boehm said, also pointing out that Mollohan is the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- popularly known as the ethics committee. "No one in the House has more familiarity with the disclosure laws than he does. Any kind of excuse that he did not know how to fill out his financial disclosure reports -- for a nine-year period -- does not pass the straight face test," Boehm added. But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday defended Mollohan and argued that Democrats have a history of ethics reform. For months Democrats have been attacking what they call the "Republican culture of corruption" in Congress and at the White House. "The Speaker (Illinois Republican Dennis Hastert) should join me in directing the Ethics Committee to get to work, and not cast aspersions on the independent and distinguished Ranking Member," said Pelosi. She referenced the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which has resulted in Abramoff pleading guilty, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas being indicted and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) being criticized for his involvement with Abramoff. Pelosi also invoked the name of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California, who pleaded guilty in a bribery scandal and is in prison. "Republicans destroyed the ethics process in the House to protect their cronies Cunningham, DeLay, Ney, and other Members implicated in the Abramoff scandal - to name only a few," Pelosi stated. "Speaker Hastert and his Republican cohorts are responsible for the most corrupt Congress in history and the American people are paying the price at the gas pump, at the pharmacy, and with record high deficits," she concluded. cnsnews.com