Thin Line

Who's Your Congresswoman? The Republicans in Congress, at least those in the House of Representatives, no longer give a crap about ethics or good government. What they care about is power. Nothing else. That, we know for sure, following the disgraceful Republican conference this week where GOP House members revised ethics rules so that Tom DeLay, the Republican majority leader, could continue to serve as one of the nation's most powerful fundamentalist righ-wing bullgoose loonies despite being investigated for corruption in his homestate of Texas. The GOP had been big champions of ethics rules and good government—hell they even claimed to be fiscal conservatives—back in the days when the Dems had control of Congress. But that was all bluster. All they really wanted was power.

And when the Republicans recently voted to soften ethics rules, they did so by an unrecorded vote, so none would be held to account. I called Rep. Heather Wilson's office today and learned she voted against the rule change. But who knows if this is really true, since the voting was done by voice, and any one of the elected officials who voted for it could turn around and deny it without any public reckoning.

If Wilson really was opposed to the rule change, and really is someone who isn't afraid to buck her own party, she of course could have said so publicly. Since the move was such a disgrace, she could have even condemned it loudly. Maybe even sent out a press release. If you want more info on the matter, call Wilson's office in Albuquerque: 346-6781.

For a more comprehensive skinny on the whole affair see the article at Bloomberg.com. (www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aKtUrlQ.Os9g&refer=us)