reality-based educator

From Hotline:

Breaking: Hastert Asks Ney To Resign As Admin. Cmte. Chair

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has asked Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) to step down from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee, three sources with knowledge of the request said today.

A source close to Hastert said the Speaker does not want to unveil lobbying reform legislation with Ney still in possession of a senior House position.

...

Hastert and others in the conference publicly supported Ney until Jack Abramoff reached an agreement with prosecutors. As recently as several days ago, Hastert praised Ney's stewardship of the committee.

Said the leadership aide: "There are people that have pled guilty who have conspired to bribe him. It does not mean he is guilty. However, given this information and the fact that part of our reform agenda will come before his committee, it's a big problem in him leading it."

Under House rules, Hastert has no authority to fire Ney. But a majority of the conference could vote to oust him as chairman if he refuses to step down.

Tweety Bird Matthews said "Hastert's doing some housecleaning" when he mentioned the Ney story on Hardball tonight, but let's face it, Hastert and the GOP only want Ney gone because it's obvious he's going down in the Abramoff scandal and it looks bad to keep him in a position of power while wheeling out their "Lobbying Reform" program.

Oh, well, no matter what the reason, it is nice to see Ney losing most of his power in the Congress.

And of course, we have the frog-march to look forward to in the very near future.

God how I love to see the corrupt fuckers in Washington get frog-marched into prison.