House Speaker Suggests Ethics Refresher: Anxious About Image

House Speaker Suggests Ethics Refresher

By CARL HULSE
Published: December 8, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 - In a sign that Republican leaders are increasingly anxious about the image of the House after bribery convictions, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert raised the prospect on Wednesday of new ethics training for lawmakers.

House members and aides said Mr. Hastert broached the subject in a closed-door session with House Republicans while they discussed former Representative Randy Cunningham, the California Republican who pleaded guilty last week in an extensive corruption case that has stunned colleagues.

"The speaker wants members on both sides of the aisle to understand the nuances of House rules," Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for Mr. Hastert, said about the plan.

Mr. Hastert's proposal indicates that senior Republicans, who have previously dismissed criticism of House conduct and links to lobbyists as politically motivated, are taking the question more seriously.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/politics/08ethics.html?ei=5094&en=10c5c124794750d5&hp=&ex=1134104400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1134053292-MkjkXtFOmVhPL+b2w8RkWA

Window dressing, but it will still be business as usual with these crooks.

We have to let Tom the Dancing Bug a chance to get back and set up shop again.

To call what is involved in the emerging Abramhof/Scanlon K-Street scandals a problem of nuances is like saying saying that Hurricane Katrina was a heavy rain.

...remedial training should worry (and disgust) their constituents.

millions!!