The House ethics committee, meanwhile, has given us an opportunity to revisit a previous round of attacks on DeLay

National Review, Dec 13, 2004

* The House ethics committee, meanwhile, has given us an opportunity to revisit a previous round of attacks on DeLay. Democratic congressman Chris Bell of Texas scored a publicity coup a month before the election, when a complaint he filed led the committee to admonish DeLay. While legislation was pending, DeLay had socialized, as many congressmen do, with interested parties.

The committee concluded that he should have avoided the appearance problem--but dismissed Bell's complaint, a fact that went largely unnoticed in the media. The election over, the committee has now further concluded that Bell violated its rules by misstating both facts and law and using inflammatory language designed "to attract publicity and, hence, a political advantage." This is pretty rich. DeLay had noted Bell's violations of the rules months ago. The committee ignored his objections, denied his requests for an evidentiary hearing, and indeed expedited its review of Bell's baseless charges. If Bell abused the ethics committee, it was with that committee's full cooperation--which makes us wonder what exactly ethics have to do with its conduct.