Yesterday, a reporter (Bob Gibson from the Charlottesville Daily Progress) finally caught up with Jerry Kilgore long enough to ask him what he thinks about the Tom DeLay scandals. Interestingly, Kilgore did not explicitly defend DeLay, nor did he attack him. He simply expressed his great confidence that the House leadership would "do the right thing here.? Kilgore added his conviction that "[Republican House leaders] are going to look at the facts and do the right thing with Mr. DeLay.?Sounds great, except for a couple of problems. First, back in January 2005 the powers of the House Ethics Committee were watered down at DeLay's urging.
Second, the Republican House Leaders are all now close allies of Tom DeLay. Back in February, they went so far as to oust its "independent minded chairman," Congressman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), in order to install DeLay loyalist, Rep. Richard Hastings (R-Wash.). According to the Washington Post, Republican House leaders said at the time that "they needed to have the ethics committee controlled by lawmakers they can trust" in order to "ensure DeLay's political survival in case he is indicted by a Texas grand jury investigating political fundraising."
According to Hefley, who was purged as chairman in deference to DeLay, "Nobody should be there to protect anybody. They should be there to protect the integrity of the institution." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) added that the removal of Hefley sent "a chilling message to members who value upholding the highest ethical standard over partisan loyalty."
We strongly agree with Hefley and Pelosi. We also wonder what Jerry Kilgore means when he says he is "convinced the House leadership is going to do the right thing here." Unless, of course, Jerry Kilgore defines "the right thing" to mean "nothing." Just like with his own eavesdropping scandal. Starting to sense a patten here? Hmmmm.....