October 14, 2006
Representative Bob Ney, the first member of Congress to confess to crimes in dealings with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty to corruption charges Friday but said he would not immediately resign.Mr. Ney, Republican of Ohio, announced last month that he intended to plead guilty, admitting that in return for official acts, he had accepted tens of thousands of dollarsÂ’ worth of gifts from Mr. Abramoff that included lavish trips, meals and tickets to concerts and sporting events. He faces a prison term of more than two years.
But what had not been expected at FridayÂ’s court hearing was Mr. NeyÂ’s disclosure that he intended to remain in Congress for now. The announcement appeared to surprise and infuriate House Republican leaders, who are trying to tamp down other scandals that are threatening to damage the party in next monthÂ’s Congressional elections.
After learning that Mr. Ney would not step down immediately and would continue to draw his $165,200-a-year salary, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders said they would move to expel him as soon as Congress returns next month for a postelection session.
“Bob Ney must be punished for the criminal actions he has acknowledged,” they said in a statement. “He betrayed his oath of office and violated the trust of those he represented in the House. There is no place for him in this Congress.”
The White House joined in calling for Mr. Ney to resign immediately. “What Congressman Ney did is not a reflection of the Republican Party,” said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman. “It’s a reflection of Congressman Ney, and he ought to step down.”
I'm heartened by the GOP moves to rid themselves of this criminal -- though I am disturbed that they were willing to wait until after the plea to expel their corrupt colleague. After all, his admission of guilt should have been sufficent to trigger an expulsion vote.
By the way, I knew Jack Abramoff way back when -- a one of several members heads of the national College Republicans I've had the opportunity to know (one, Tony Zagotta, was a good friend back during our days at Illinois State). That association makes me more disgusted, rather than less, by the misdeeds we are learning of as this investigation unfolds, and makes me more desirous of seing all involved severely and justly punished.
Posted by: Greg at
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I have always been perplexed by your positions regarding corruption in the Republican Party. For the record, my position is straightforward. When there is clear and convincing evidence that an elected official has engaged in corruption, the Republican Party is obligated to remove that official from office by either pressuring the official to resign or voting him out at the ballot box.
You write: "After all, his admission of guilt should have been sufficent to trigger an expulsion vote."
It appears that you think that Ney's offence was his "admission of guilt" rather than his corruption. You have argued on my site and others that your standard of evidence is "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt", implying that there must be some sort of criminal determination before you will call for an official's removal from office. [Other times you have been quick to accuse officials of corruption without a criminal determination.]
In practical terms, your "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" standard dovetails nicely into my assertion that you think Ney's offense was his admission of guilt rather than his corrupt acts. My question to you is this: Would it have been reasonable for the Republican Party to take steps to remove Ney after it became clear that he was involved in corruption but before his admission of guilt? Under my standard that says the corruption itself is sufficient to remove Ney from office, the answer is clearly "yes". But your standard is much more ambiguous, and it appears to me that your answer would be "no".
Also, could you please articulate your position on government corruption in general more clearly?
Posted by: Greg in TX22 at Sun Oct 22 04:02:27 2006 (r4BS2)
The people elect their representatives. They are entitled to those representatives unless there is manifestly clear misconduct that constitutes criminality.
Ney's guilty plea constitutes such misconduct. So do the Foley IMs. I'd even include $90K in a freezer.
The DeLay case constitutes a much more gray area, and therefore I opposed his resignation and would have opposed his expulsion.
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