There was a very good reason (or two) for that House ethics truce! As the Lioness is finding out.

A CQpiece yesterday says her plan (devised by the Capuano task force) for a watered down Office of Public Integrity (as compared with the Lieberman version, that is - Obama had something similar, I think) is meeting organized resistance:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, plans to meet with her caucus Tuesday to help assuage the fears of a sizable group of Democrats who believe that allowing non-members to file complaints will open a floodgate of politically motivated attacks.

There's more...

To judge from the delay in the corporate response, perhaps the CBC needed some persuasion to get their folks in line.

But was there ever any doubt as to the result?

From the CBC site:

Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) released the following statement on the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson.  

"The charges against Congressman William Jefferson are serious and warrant thorough deliberation. The law of the land entitles every citizen to presumed innocence until the court of law deems otherwise. We trust the merits of the case against Congressman Jefferson will be examined in a court of law and not the chambers of public opinion."           

There's more...

The Hillupdates us on how things have been going at the House Ethics Committee since the departure of Brer Mollohan.

The answer seems to be, quite smoothly.

Mollohan's (temporary?) replacement, Howard Berman (CA-28)

reluctantly assumed the ranking member's post at the House ethics committee two months ago, insisting that his reign as senior Democrat be temporary. But since Berman's arrival, the ethics panel has started three new probes and created a voluntary approval process for member travel, with Berman displaying a warm rapport with Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) that Mollohan noticeably lacked.

There's more...

On one hand we have the Democrats...

As you may have already seen or heard, on Sunday House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an ethics investigation of one of her own fellow Democrats during her appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press". While this was not an entirely controversial move as Congressman Jefferson, of Louisiana, has come under heat from prosecutors in regard to allegations that he profited from his office, it nevertheless signalled that the Democrats are serious about cleaning up Washington -- even if it means shedding their caucus of loyal, though corrupt, members.

On the other hand we have the Republicans...

This week, a former top aide to Bob Ney, a Republican Congressman from Ohio, pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired with Jack Abramoff to help bribe his then-boss. The response from Republicans towards the revelation about Ney was markedly different than that of Pelosi to charges about Jefferson. Patrick O'Connor has the story for The Hill.

House Republicans gave Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) a standing ovation after he told them yesterday that he has no plans to resign and will vigorously fend off a likely federal indictment.

It's almost as if the Republicans are trying to make the Democrats' jobs easier this year, that they themselves want to make the case to voters that the GOP is wholly corrupt. Why else would they give a standing ovation to a Congressman who is under such legal scrutiny?

There's more...

[Following up yesterday's diary.]

Jodi Rudoren (née Wilgoren) weighs in with a piece in the Times today.

She identifies five nonprofits which have benefited from Mollohan earmarks to the total sum of $250m:

The first and largest is the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, which is absorbing the troubled Institute for Scientific Research. Another, the Canaan Valley Institute, works on stream restoration and wastewater treatment. The Vandalia Heritage Foundation redevelops dilapidated buildings, and the MountainMade Foundation helps artisans market wares.

There's more...