Say Anything Blog

With all the talk from Democrats about cleaning up the so-called “culture of corruption… I believe Pelosi’s exact words were “draining the swamp”… it occurred to me that I couldn’t recall an announcement about who was to chair the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, better known as the House Ethics Committee.

A quick Google search pulled this from the December 20th edition of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Pelosi also announced she will name Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a former judge and prosecutor from Cleveland, to chair the House Ethics Committee. The appointment was expected, but it was still considered a vital decision. The panel serves as both judge and jury for lawmakers accused of misconduct, although critics have accused it of being a toothless watchdog in recent years…

Tubbs Jones, who has served on the committee for the last six years, said Tuesday she plans to put more bite back into the ethics process.

“Sitting in judgment of your colleagues is always a difficult position,” she said in an interview. “But I believe that I come to this position at an opportune time to restore the confidence of the American public and the members of Congress in the role of the ethics committee—and that it can do its job.”

From Tubbs Jones’ campaign website comes a link to the following joyful little August 6, 2006 article from the Mansfield, Ohio News Journal, written by one Lisa Miller.

MANSFIELD—Most people who keep folks waiting don’t get a standing ovation.

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones brought the crowd to its feet more than once during Sunday’s get-out-the-vote rally at the Greater Mitchell Chapel AME Church.

Ninety minutes behind schedule, the Cleveland-area congresswoman apologized and explained she was crisscrossing the state by plane and car on behalf of fellow Democrats.

“We need to have the opportunity in our state to elect people who are going to benefit us,” Tubbs Jones told the full sanctuary.

Usher Debra Wright called the afternoon “an exciting event” and a “privilege” for the small congregation to host.

Mansfield At-Large Councilman Don Culliver organized and hosted the rally at the South Adams Street church, which he said was “to inform, energize and inspire.”

He got one of those standing ovations rolling when he introduced Tubbs Jones as “just a normal person that wants to do good for people.”

Tubbs Jones was the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio and the first to serve on the House Ways and Means committee. She has served on its Social Security and Select Revenue Measures subcommittees.

Recalling her own background and help from affirmative action programs, the 57-year-old said the community needs to support Democrats to achieve education and job opportunities.

“Education is the door to opportunity,” Tubbs Jones said, noting that in one part of her district students take laptop computers home and in another part they don’t even have books to take home. “How are they successful if we don’t give them what they need? It is past time for us to step up to the plate,” she said.

She said small businesses are struggling with health-care costs and are trying to function while the government provides incentives “to take our jobs somewhere else.”

Obviously comfortable in the pulpit, Tubbs Jones said, “The message is that our success is in our hands. ... We have an opportunity to fix what’s wrong in Ohio.”

She quoted her own radio spots, insisting to yet more applause that “Enough is enough. It’s time for a change. Vote Democrat.”

While waiting for the congresswoman to arrive, Culliver spoke of his own plans to run for mayor next year. He introduced ministers in the audience, including Mitchell Chapel’s the Rev. Nate Colvin III and the Rev. Nicole L. Colvin, and called Mayor Lydia Reid, local candidates Jay Goyal (73rd District Ohio House seat) and Cynthia O’Neal (Richland County Commissioner), Sherrod Brown’s mother Emily Brown and other community members to speak before Tubbs Jones arrived.

Culliver, who was celebrating his 55th birthday Sunday, echoed much of what the guest of honor later said. “If we the people want change, we have to go out and make that change ourselves,” he said. “The ones who do not vote are the ones who put people in.”

Read that article again carefully, because what we have here is the incoming chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, headlining a distinctly partisan campaign rally… in a church!

Next, from the website of the decidedly leftwing/liberal group, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State comes the following interpretation of the Internal Revenue Service regulations concerning 501[c](3) tax-exempt organizations, which includes churches, and their use for partisan political purposes.

Political Campaign Activity

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made by or on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax. Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including the presentation of public forums and the publication of voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not constitute prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner. On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that: (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.

So, it would appear that the incoming head of the House Ethics Committee may very well have violated federal campaign laws herself, and the Greater Mitchell Chapel AME church may have jeopardized it’s tax-exempt status in holding what was clearly a partisan campaign rally.

And if Tubbs Jones has in fact violated federal campaign law, as recently as this past election, shouldn’t she be disqualified from even sitting on, never mind heading up, the House Ethics Committee?

The question is, who is likely to actually do anything about this? Certainly not congressional Democrats, or Speaker Pelosi who appointed Tubbs Jones to head the Ethics Committee in the first place.

Who indeed?