GOP leaders lend Jerry Lewis a hand

About a month ago, during a debate for Republican presidential candidates, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) was asked about Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and some of the other scandal-plagued members of the GOP caucus. "[T]hat's one thing about our party: When our guys have problems like this, they leave -- they leave the Senate or they leave the House," Hunter said. "When the Democrats have problems like this, they often make them chairman of -- of their respective committees."

It was an odd thing to say, given that reality points to the opposite being true. For example, consider the latest report from Bob Novak.

In a secret meeting Wednesday of the House Republican leadership, Minority Leader John Boehner ruled that Rep. Jerry Lewis of California will continue as the party's ranking member of the Appropriations Committee while under federal investigation on ethics charges.

That widened the gap between Boehner and reform-minded House Republicans, including members of the leadership. Under investigation for sponsoring questionable earmarks, Lewis remains a major Republican spokesman in Congress. He led the Republican debate Wednesday on Democratic procedures for handling President Bush's veto of the expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The culture of corruption lives on.