The Scandal Party

From run-away spending to corruption, Republicans have become the party they replaced in 1994. Roll Call has a great story today on the new scandal party (subscription required I think).

The Libby indictment — and the possibility that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove could be indicted as special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald continues his probe — could weigh heavily on Republicans in the second session of the 109th Congress and at the ballot box next fall. But other probes now under way could threaten Republicans in Congress more directly.

On Tuesday, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) will be back in court in Austin, Texas, to contest felony money laundering and conspiracy charges stemming from his role in the Lone Star State’s 2002 legislative races. DeLay’s indictment on those charges
forced him to step down as Majority Leader in early October. DeLay has denied
the charges and vowed to return to his leadership post.

On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will hold his fourth and final hearing on former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business dealings with a half-dozen American Indian tribes. McCain and his staff will then begin work on a committee report, expected to be released later this year, outlining the findings of their
18-month probe, according to Senate sources.

In addition, the long-sidelined House ethics committee is expected to be back in full operation soon. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), chairman and ranking member of the panel, are conducting a search for a new chief counsel for the committee, and the two are said to be close to making a selection. Once the committee is up and running, it will begin preliminary probes of DeLay, House Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and other Members caught up in the Abramoff and travel scandals.

Finally, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan over his sales of stock in his family’s hospital chain. Investigators are focusing on Frist’s decision to ask the executor who controlled the blind trusts for him, his wife and children to dump all stocks in HCA Inc., the company founded by Frist’s brother and father. The sale was carried out prior to a poor earnings report for HCA, but Frist has denied that he did anything improper and predicted that he will be exonerated in the probe.