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GOP leader warned King about Mollohan amendment |
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By Susan Crabtree
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Posted: 07/31/07 08:05 PM [ET] |
Fearing ethics retribution, a GOP leader lectured Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) last week for offering an amendment to the Justice Department’s spending bill that would have set aside $1 million specifically to investigate Rep. Alan Mollohan’s (D-W.Va.) real estate deals.
Republican leaders were annoyed by King’s move last Wednesday because they weren’t consulted and only learned of it when he circulated a “Dear Colleague” asking for support the same day, according to one lawmaker and a GOP leadership aide.
Only 19 Republican members and no Democrats supported the unprecedented measure. Most who voted yes are members of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs panel, is the most senior of King’s supporters.
King would not say which GOP leader approached him after the vote, describing the encounter as “paternal.”
“There was concern that was expressed to me that [the amendment] would inspire retaliation from other members against Republicans, some kind of ethics war,” King said. “I said there doesn’t seem to be a lot of restraint on the other side of the aisle on that score anyway.”
King also said he didn’t care whether Democrats retaliate against Republicans over the amendment because they haven’t been shy about using the corruption issue against GOP members. He added that retaliation could help eliminate any corruption in the conference, which would benefit the party and its agenda.
“So what if it does [inspire retaliation]?” he asked. “They can’t restrain themselves and it will get us down to the core group of members.”
The FBI is reportedly investigating Mollohan for his ties to non-profits and the millions of dollars in earmarks he has channeled to them. At least one of the non-profit officials has partnered with Mollohan in real-estate deals.
Mollohan has denied any wrongdoing and says the FBI has not contacted him about the allegations, a claim he repeated last week. Last year, when the allegations and the FBI probe were first reported, he stepped down from the top Democratic spot on the ethics committee. Earlier this year, he sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee recusing himself from issues involving the Justice Department—just as he was moving into the chairmanship of the Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which funds the FBI.
“But I would suggest that the gentleman, number one, has expressed a greater knowledge about any investigation than I have,” Mollohan said on the floor Wednesday. “Perhaps he has inside knowledge about it. But I could not tell you actually
if it exists, because I have never been approached with regard to it.”
Republicans members and aides privately are questioning whether Mollohan is abiding by his recusal, but they disagreed with the way Young approached the matter.
“Talk about using a blunt instrument,” remarked one GOP aide.
Others expressed concern about the vulnerability of Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who is under FBI investigation for his ties to a lobbying firm and the tens of millions of dollars in earmarks he directed to its clients.
Earlier this year, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he had discussed the FBI investigation with Lewis and that members are entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. After the FBI raided Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.)’s home in April in connection to the Jack Abramoff probe, prompting Doolittle to step down from the spending panel, Boehner said GOP leaders would act swiftly when confronted with a clear indication of misconduct.
Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing.
After the Wednesday vote, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), ranking member of the Rules Committee, openly groused about King’s amendment and said he did not vote for it. By press time Monday, a Dreier spokesman said he could not confirm whether Dreier had approached King. Brian Kennedy, a Boehner spokesman, also said he was unaware of anyone lecturing King about the move.
Amos Snead, a spokesman for Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), said they were unaware of anyone lecturing King about the move.
Noting that he was making no assertion about Mollohan’s guilt or innocence, King said he knew the move would irritate his own leaders but he felt compelled to raise the issue because he believed no one else was willing to do so directly.
“So it is reluctantly that I bring this here. I wish that someone had stepped forward and taken this cup from me,” he said on the House floor. “But I can’t cross this spot, which I recognize to be the Rubicon, knowing what I know, without raising the issue for the members, to ask them to make a decision as well.”
King added that the prospect of Mollohan chairing the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Justice Department raises a “huge question of impropriety.”
The private leadership admonishment has apparently had little effect. King said he planned to continue highlighting ethics issues on the floor when he feels it is warranted and has not planned to seek permission from his leaders beforehand or even alert them.
“I slept like a baby that night,” he said. “I am feeling fairly comfortable in my soul about what I did to benefit the ethical standards of the House.”
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