Ethics, Texas-Style

I'm still playing catch up here and I'll be busy again in just a bit, but I had a chance to glance at some headlines, and came across this Reuters article--I'm reminded of a title I saw at Whiskey Bar...something like "Fox--Reports of Henhouse Intrusions Greatly Exaggerated."

So, Tom Delay let Dennis Hastert know exactly who wields the mace--and it ain't the speaker:

A contributor to U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay's defense fund [Rep. Lamar Smith] was named on Wednesday to the House ethics committee, which twice last year admonished the Texas Republican.

In a shake-up of the bipartisan panel that critics called part of a purge and a "shutdown" of ethics enforcement, Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, also replaced the chairman, Joel Hefley, a Colorado Republican, with Washington state Republican Doc Hastings, who was already on the panel.

Common Dreams has more.