Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Investigate Doc Hastings now

A government watchdog group is calling for an investigation into the conduct of Doc Hastings and staffer Ed Cassidy in regards to a call Cassidy made to former US attorney John McKay about the 2004 gubernatorial election. From ScrippsNews:
Melanie Sloan, executive director of the liberal-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Cassidy and Hastings should both be investigated.

"Cassidy didn't just make this call on his own," she said. "He works for Hastings. Hastings must have known."

Sloan said this case was more egregious than many because Hastings was a member of the Ethics Committee and Cassidy was on the committee staff. "They should have known better," she said.
It is high time that Hastings himself be investigated by the ethics committee. It's ridiculous that he is still on that committee, frankly. He was put there by Tom DeLay to render it powerless, and there is no way anyone will trust it with Hastings still present. Hastings needs to be removed immediately, as he is clearly a potential subject.

Democrats in the US House need to move quickly on this matter. The detente that has existed out of fear of an "ethics war" has resulted in a complete loss of confidence by the public in the chamber's ability to police itself. The scandalous case of Mark Foley, which prompted an ethics committee investigation followed by no meaningful action, pales in comparison to this potentially severe abuse of power.

The press in Eastern Washington needs to do its part. Maybe some reporters in Hastings' district could say, ask some questions. As eburger at The Other Side-Online puts it:
What is going on here?

Was our congressman consistently interfering with a federal agency to forward a political agenda (which by the way is against congressional rules).

To the Yakima Herald, Tri-City Herald, and Wenatchee World: WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!!!!!!

This could be the biggest potential story in central Washington in the last 50 years. So far, y’all have run wire service stories or turgidly recapped the information with some by-the-book journalism.
Indeed. If family-owned newspapers are such a profound benefit to their communities, as they argued when asking for repeal of the estate tax, they need to do their jobs and inform the public what their elected officials have been up to.

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