Ney, still collecting federal salary, to appear in court this week

Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who has admitted to corruptly accepting thousands of gifts from lobbyists in exchange for legislative favors, is scheduled to appear before a federal judge on Friday the 13th to formally admit wrongdoing. And to the dismay of Republicans, he will likely do so as a sitting member of Congress.

Ney has given up his gavels on the House Administration Committee and the Financial Services Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee, but has kept his seat.

. . .

A spokeswoman for the House Administration Committee confirmed Ney is still on the congressional payroll. Ney makes $165,200 annually, or $452.60 per day. Ney has ignored calls from colleagues and outside ethics groups to step down from his post, including one from Ohio state Sen. Joy Padgett, who is running to replace him.

. . .

Earlier last month, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) had promised a “quick solution” to Ney’s admissions, as the ethics committee launched an investigation. Asked whether Ney should resign, Hastert said, “I think you will see a solution to that very, very quickly.”

. . .

On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) also defended Hastert, saying, “I give Speaker Hastert high marks for strong leadership. He took care of Tom DeLay , his best friend, when Tom was having ethical problems. The Speaker went to him and asked him to leave. When he appointed Randy “Duke” Cunningham to the Intelligence Committee, he went to Duke and made sure he wasn’t on the Intelligence Committee after it was disclosed he took $2.3 million. And when Bob Ney was appointed chairman of the House Administration Committee, he was appointed by Speaker Hastert. Speaker Hastert went to him and told him to step down from that committee after the Abramoff disclosures. Hastert has the ability to take on these big ethical challenges that our party has faced.”

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/101106/ney.html

Hmm, another Denny faliure to lead? Nah, couldn't be. :sarcasm:

Cutting him off now could be costly.

Don't these ethical problems make the Congressmen unfit to serve?

In the cases of Cunningham and Ney, once they it was clear they took bribes,
they needed to be gone. Bob Ney is a disgrace to Congress. Hastert and
Bohner should have demanded his resignation last month.

i wonder if he's superstitious :)

and has kinda a nice ring to it.

need to be aware that Claude Parrish, running for Treasurer, took money from Ney and - to my knowledge- refused to return it; saying he would not until Ney was "tried and convicted".