Ethics Problem With Another Democratic Leader

Last week I posted some of Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid's ethics problems. Today it looks like House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi has joined the fray. According to the National Legal and Policy Center:

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has fined two leadership PACs associated with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in response to a Complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) on October 25, 2002. The FEC also has fined three campaigns that failed to return excessive contributions from Pelosi’s PACs within 60 days, as required by law.

Under conciliation agreements reached with the FEC, Pelosi’s two committees — PAC to the Future and Team Majority — will pay $21,000.

NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm reacted by stating, “We are delighted that the FEC has acted favorably on our Complaint. No member of Congress has ever set up a second leadership PAC to evade contribution limits. Pelosi has been caught violating the clearest and most basic law of all, the limits on contributions. Talk about hypocrisy.”

Of course, this was Pelosi in 2002: “One threat to our Constitution, indeed to our participatory democracy, is the role of the special interest money in the political process today.”

She also complained of “extremists in the Republican Party who have repeatedly tried to undermine campaign finance reform” and of “sneaky tactics employed by the Republicans” to weaken the Shays-Meehan legislation.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the news stories on this ethics violation either- she's not Republican and her last name isn't DeLay. (The only problem is that I like Pelosi as Democratic leader because she's so ineffective.)