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Friday, January 21, 2005

MY CONGRESSMAN (R) and the DELAY RULE

I get letters, too...

Dear Mr. X23:

Thank you for contacting me about the changes in the
Republican Conference Rules and the House Ethics Rules. I
appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

On November 17, 2004, Representative Henry Bonilla (R-
TX) proposed a change to the Republican Conference Rules, which
would make them operate from a position of presumed innocence,
consistent with the way individuals are treated in a court of law.
The previous Republican conference rule required a chairman or
member of leadership to be automatically removed from their post
immediately upon indictment for a felony. The simple change to
the rules authored by Rep. Bonilla made it an option for the
Republican Conference to choose to remove a member of
leadership for indictment, rather than an automatic removal
following a formal indictment charge. Please be assured that
Republicans, especially myself, do not want criminals leading our
party and if a member of leadership has committed a felony, he
will not have my support.

You may be aware that Speaker Dennis Hastert and
Representative Tom DeLay recently requested that House
Republicans return to the original rule. Following their guidance,
House Republicans agreed to reverse the rule, which now requires
a chairman or member of leadership to immediately step down the
same way it did before November 2004. While the question of
political motivation in bringing indictments remains, House
Republicans believe that it is important to reassure the public that
House members will be held accountable for unlawful acts.



Once again, thank you for contacting me. If I can be of
further assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to let
me know.
Sincerely,
Buck McKeon
Member of Congress

House Republicans believe that it is important to reassure the public that House members will be held accountable for unlawful acts.

Oh, yes...I'm sure they would like us to believe that...

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