U.S. House Ethics Panel Chief May Be Replaced [...by lackey of Tom Delay]

House Ethics Panel Chief May Be Replaced

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 29, 2004; Page A04

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.

Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.

The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure...

Question is, is this ultimately a bad thing or a good thing? Is it better to allow such hubristic excess, assuming somebody(voters, other elected officials, etc) will eventually respond to such hubris? if they are given enough rope, will they actually wind up hanging themselves in the end? or is any feedback control mechanism essentially broken right now, allowing the problems to continue until catastrophic failure occurs?

at any rate, this upcoming year or two will be fun(and probably horrifying) to watch the ensuing schisms in the controlling party...