House Ethics Committee Prepares To Do Nothing On Renzi

The House ethics committee announced today that it will create a four-member investigative subcommittee to look into the activities of indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.).

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) will chair the special subcommittee, and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) will serve as ranking member. Reps. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) are the other two members of the subcommittee, which has been charged with determining whether Renzi "violated the Official Code of Conduct or any law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct in his performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities" as a lawmaker. Renzi has been indicted on 35 federal counts of fraud, embezzlement, exortotion, money laundering and conspiracy. He will be arraigned on March 4.

But as all House ethics committee watchers know - and the Crypt counts itself among that fraternity - the ethics committee is not going to do anything about Renzi. Nothing. Not a blessed thing. Bank on it.

You ask why? Rule 15, paragraph F, of the official rules for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, explains the situation succinctly: "The Committee may defer action on a complaint against a Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives when the complaint alleges conduct that the Committee has reason to believe is being reviewed by appopriate law enforcement or regulatory authorities, or when the Committee determines that is appropriate for the conduct alleged in the complaint to be reviewed initially by law enforcement or regulatory authorities."
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