Complaint in Congress over Gingrich-era call taped in Florida

Complaint in Congress Over Gingrich-Era Call Taped in Florida

Posted on Fri, Nov. 19, 2004

MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - An Ohio congressman has filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., adding a new twist to a 7-year-old dispute over an illegally taped Florida telephone conversation that McDermott leaked to reporters.

Rep. Dave Hobson, R-Ohio, filed the complaint, based in large part of a court ruling that found McDermott should pay Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, more than $600,000 for leaking the taped conversation in 1997.

The ethics complaint comes as McDermott announced he is appealing the ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who held that McDermott's "willful and knowing misconduct rises to the level of malice." The notice of appeal was filed Thursday with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In a statement Friday, McDermott blasted Hobson's complaint. "The federal court case to which this complaint refers at such length is far from finished. It is now on appeal. We expect the result to be very different" from Hogan's late October ruling, McDermott said.

"The ethics complaint failed to mention that there are significant First Amendment issues involved and failed to mention that the U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. Supreme Court that there were First Amendment rights at stake," McDermott added.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10227525.htm
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One of these photos is NOT Rep. Hobson's.

Party_line already posted it earlier:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1006976