GOP's DeLay Inquiry Offer Rebuffed

The GOP offer was contingent on Democrats ending a boycott of the Ethics Committee. The Democrats said they would not agree to the request because, in their view, committee rule changes had hamstrung the panel's ability to investigate House members.

The Republican offer to investigate DeLay -- the target of recent questions about his travel and links to a controversial lobbyist -- intensified the battle over the Ethics Committee. That fight erupted in January when Republicans pushed through the changes to its rules.

The Democrats refused to accept the rules then, and reiterated that position Wednesday -- even though it meant passing up a chance to investigate DeLay, the second most powerful man in the House.

"If we were to adopt these rules, we would undermine seriously the ability of the committee to do its job," Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.) said Wednesday. He is the ranking Democrat on the Ethics Committee, which is known officially as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

The response by Democrats sparked a rebuke from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who accused them of playing politics in the dispute.

In an interview on Fox News Channel, he noted that DeLay had said he was open to an investigation by the ethics panel. But, Hastert said, "as long as the Democrats won't let the Ethics Committee form, they have it both ways" -- continuing to criticize DeLay without giving him a chance to clear his name.

Hastert suggested that Democrats may fear that a working ethics panel would train a spotlight on ethics violations by their own members.

There are "probably four or five cases out there dealing with top-level Democrats," Hastert said. "There's a reason they don't want to go to the ethics process."

But House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) dismissed the GOP offer as "a charade and an absolute nonstarter with Democrats, who reject it out of hand."

Hoyer said the move was "a calculated attempt to divert attention from the fact that the Republican majority has neutered the Ethics Committee by imposing partisan rules that hamstring any meaningful inquiry."