Adam's Apple
Senior Member
- Apr 25, 2004
- 4,092
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- 48
Ethics -- Only Good for The Other Side
By Debra J. Saunders, San Francisco Gate
Thursday, July 7, 2005
NANCY PELOSI is in trouble. As House Democratic Leader, the congresswoman is primed to go after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for his ethical lapses. She has called for an investigation of a $70,000 trip made by DeLay, his wife and aides to the United Kingdom, possibly bankrolled by a lobbyist. Others have assailed DeLay for a 2001 trip to South Korea funded by a registered foreign agent.
But a funny thing happened on Pelosi's way to her ethics coup: She ran afoul of the same rules she hurls at DeLay.
As the Washington Post reported, last week Pelosi filed delinquent reports for three trips she herself accepted from outside sponsors. The biggie was a week-long 1999 trip to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce. The tab for Pelosi and her husband: about $8,000.
Just last month, Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider told Roll Call that Pelosi's "position is that the rules are clear; people need to follow them." Within days, Pelosi had to refile because she failed to follow these "clear" rules.
Here's another glitch: A senior aide to Pelosi, Eddie Charmaine Manansala, went on a $9,887 trip in 2004 sponsored by the same Korea-U.S. Exchange Council as sponsored DeLay's excursion -- then failed to file the mandated paperwork until a reporter asked about the trip.
And while Pelosi bashes GOP ethics, PoliticalMoneyLine, a data firm, crunched the numbers and found that in the last five years, Democrats took 3,458 privately funded junkets, while Republicans took 2,666.
for full article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/07/EDGSVDJEBFl.DTL&hw=... If url doesn't work, go to http://www.sfgate.com and do a search for Debra Saunders. Should be the 7th or 8th article listed.
By Debra J. Saunders, San Francisco Gate
Thursday, July 7, 2005
NANCY PELOSI is in trouble. As House Democratic Leader, the congresswoman is primed to go after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for his ethical lapses. She has called for an investigation of a $70,000 trip made by DeLay, his wife and aides to the United Kingdom, possibly bankrolled by a lobbyist. Others have assailed DeLay for a 2001 trip to South Korea funded by a registered foreign agent.
But a funny thing happened on Pelosi's way to her ethics coup: She ran afoul of the same rules she hurls at DeLay.
As the Washington Post reported, last week Pelosi filed delinquent reports for three trips she herself accepted from outside sponsors. The biggie was a week-long 1999 trip to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce. The tab for Pelosi and her husband: about $8,000.
Just last month, Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider told Roll Call that Pelosi's "position is that the rules are clear; people need to follow them." Within days, Pelosi had to refile because she failed to follow these "clear" rules.
Here's another glitch: A senior aide to Pelosi, Eddie Charmaine Manansala, went on a $9,887 trip in 2004 sponsored by the same Korea-U.S. Exchange Council as sponsored DeLay's excursion -- then failed to file the mandated paperwork until a reporter asked about the trip.
And while Pelosi bashes GOP ethics, PoliticalMoneyLine, a data firm, crunched the numbers and found that in the last five years, Democrats took 3,458 privately funded junkets, while Republicans took 2,666.
for full article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/07/EDGSVDJEBFl.DTL&hw=... If url doesn't work, go to http://www.sfgate.com and do a search for Debra Saunders. Should be the 7th or 8th article listed.