Pelosi's ethics stance hypocritical, GOP says

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House Republicans called Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a hypocrite yesterday for not demanding investigations into new ethics questions that have arisen about the travel of her fellow Democrats.

"She demanded an investigation into [Majority Leader] Tom DeLay, but hasn't said a word about these Democrats who have done the same thing," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican. "If she doesn't call for investigations into her fellow Democrats, then it's clear she's being a hypocrite."

Republicans are wondering why the California representative won't ask for investigations into Democratic Reps. Norm Dicks of Washington, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, all of whom face questions about accepting travel paid for by lobbyists.

"As we expressed in earlier letters, Madame Leader, it appears more and more that your repeated calls for an investigation of Mr. DeLay are more driven by politics than by any real concern for the House rules," Mr. McHenry, with two other Republicans, wrote in a letter to Mrs. Pelosi yesterday.

Despite urging from Republicans, Mrs. Pelosi refused to call for any investigations of her Democratic colleagues.

"The Republicans are yet again attempting to muddy the waters to divert attention from their pattern of abusing of power," spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said yesterday.

Mr. Dicks said earlier this week that a five-day trip he took to Miami this year was paid for by a defense lobbying firm without his knowledge. Upon learning that Alexandria-based Spectrum Group had paid some of the expenses, Mr. Dicks offered to pay the $985 out of pocket, his spokesman said.

Mr. Thompson and Mr. Clyburn got embroiled in the ethics battle when the Associated Press discovered documents showing that their travels in 1997 to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) had been paid for by a lobbyist.

That lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, is under federal investigation and has been at the heart of questions surrounding travel by Mr. DeLay. Despite evidence showing that Mr. Abramoff paid for travel by Mr. DeLay, the Texas Republican said he never knowingly allowed any lobbyist to pay for his trips.

Similarly, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Clyburn filed travel disclosure reports stating that a nonprofit organization paid for their trip and said they had no idea that Mr. Abramoff -- or his firm at the time, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP -- had footed the bill.