WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee chairman who presided over three rebukes of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was bounced from the job Wednesday and replaced by a Republican congressman from Washington state.
The new chairman is Rep. Doc Hastings, the committee's second-ranking Republican. He was named by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to take the gavel from Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.).
In addition, Hastert appointed three new members to the panel, including two -- Reps. Lamar S. Smith (R-Texas) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) -- whose political action committees have contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund. Smith's PAC contributed $5,000 in 2001 and an additional $5,000 between July and September 2004; Cole's gave $5,000 between July and September 2004.
The third new Republican member is Rep. Melissa A. Hart of Pennsylvania.
Hastert had indicated that he would not reappoint Hefley because House GOP rules limited the terms of committee members. Hefley joined the committee, which is charged with investigating and disciplining House members, in 1997 and became chairman in 2001. His supporters argued that the rules could be waived.
Democrats and congressional watchdog groups accused Hastert of retaliating against Hefley for the rebukes to DeLay, the House's No. 2 leader.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Hefley's ouster and his replacement with a "party loyalist" was "further evidence that there is a purge underway of any Republican who does not precisely toe the party line."
The shake-up of the panel, formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, comes in the wake of a Texas grand jury indictment of three fundraisers with ties to DeLay. They are accused of illegally funneling corporate contributions to GOP candidates for state office. DeLay has called the investigation politically motivated and said he had not been contacted by prosecutors.
Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington watchdog group, assailed the changes. The test for the new chairman and members will be this, he said: "Will they simply carry out the obvious game plan of the House Republican leadership to shut down ethics enforcement in the House, or will they have the courage to carry out the ethics enforcement responsibilities that go with their positions?"
Hefley, who had predicted his own removal, said in a statement Wednesday that it was "somewhat of a relief" to be free of the responsibility of being chairman.
