House ethics panel stalled; what's up Doc (Hastings)?

The Republican from Pasco (Doc Hastings) took over the ethics committee last year, when GOP leaders dumped then-chairman Joel Hefley of Colorado.

Hefley's sin: The ethics panel formally rebuked DeLay, R-Texas, then powerful majority leader, three times over fundraising questions and political tactics. Hastings, an ally of DeLay and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, got the ethics job.

The implication, widely reported, was that if Hastings held down the fort on ethics, he eventually might get the job he covets: chairmanship of the House Rules Committee.

But Hastings' committee has stalled over the past 15 months. There's been a pileup of potential cases at his door: bribery allegations about Jefferson, D-La., and new questions touching on DeLay and Ney, R-Ohio, in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, outlined in court papers.

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...the only politician Hastings' committee is investigating is Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., over a 9-year-old incident involving an illegally taped phone call that he leaked to the media.

Since 2005, newspaper editorials have denounced Hastings & Co. for "nap time" on the "do-nothing" "feckless" and "inert" ethics committee, accusing it of "flatlining" and "ossifying."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002931397_aliciacol15m.html