Politics

Nancy Pelosi: Polititicans Who Live in Glass Houses: Should Disclose Travel Timely

Flap previously reported on Polititicans Who Live in Glass Houses: Should Disclose Travel Timely:

Now, Congresswoman and House Minority and Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi has disclosed some additional unreported trips:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed delinquent reports Friday for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580 and occurred as long as seven years ago, according to copies of the documents.

The filing is among hundreds of revisions from members of both parties who have amended missing or incomplete reports as scrutiny of lawmaker travel has intensified.

The most expensive trip was not reported on Pelosi’s annual financial disclosure statement or on the travel disclosure form that is required within 30 days of a trip.

A Democrat leader definitely living in a Glass House, while throwing stones.

Look at the facts….far more Democrat members of Congress have alleged failings of the Ethics rules than Republicans.

A more common violation among members filing corrections was to list a trip on the annual statement but not file the more detailed form about a specific trip. The House ethics committee plans to examine the tardy disclosures after being stalled since January in partisan disputes.

Committee members have shown no appetite for taking up all those cases and are considering an amnesty for reporting violations, although not for serious matters such as accepting a trip from a lobbyist, which House rules forbid. The data firm PoliticalMoneyLine calculates that members of Congress have received more than $18 million in travel from private organizations in the past five years, with Democrats taking 3,458 trips and Republicans taking 2,666.

What is the FLAP?

Pelosi, who was elected House Democratic leader in November 2002, said in a letter to the ethics committee: “Although the current travel issue has focused on trips that have taken place since 2000, I have further reviewed my record of privately funded travel prior to becoming part of the Democratic Leadership.” She said that “as a result,” she was filing three forms, two for trips that she had reported on her annual statements.

The unreported trip was a week-long 1999 visit to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, for “meetings with government, military and business officials,” according to a filing Pelosi signed June 30. The flights cost $3,400 each for Pelosi and her husband. The hotel cost was $940. The sponsor, which has picked up trips for leaders of both parties, paid $300 for meals.

Remember the ethical FLAP called the “Delay Effect” when the Washington Post (among others) reported that Delay was hurting his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders’ troubles.

Well, what did the Democrat leaders unleash?

A FLAP in their own caucus.

Pelosi said she had provided “a good faith estimate” of the cost of the other two trips, since her “office records for that period do not indicate the costs.” In 1998, NBC paid for a $200 trip to New York for a “Meet the Press” appearance, according to the filing. In 1999, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee paid $300 for transportation to Delray Beach, Fla., and $40 for meals for Pelosi to appear at a reception and briefing.

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, said the filing is new evidence that the focus on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has been disproportionate. “Democrats have just as many substantive questions,” Kingston said.

This partisan attack on Tom Delay is coming back to bite them.

Read what Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters has to say.