Watchdog Files Ethics Complaint against Hastings, Staffer

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed its third ethics complaint of the prosecutor purge scandal. And this one’s a doozy — it’s against Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the ranking member of the ethics committee, and his former chief of staff Ed Cassidy.

CREW is calling for Hastings to “step down from his position on the committee pending an investigation into his conduct.”

The complaint, of course, involves former U.S. Attorney John McKay’s testimony that Ed Cassidy (who currently works for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)) called him about whether his office was investigating charges of voter fraud in the 2004 gubernatorial election. You can see McKay’s testimony here.

From CREW’s press release:

Mr. Cassidy’s call to Mr. McKay — at Rep. Hastings’ behest — violates chapter 7 of the House ethics manual, which prohibits members from contacting executive or agency officials regarding the merits of matters under their formal consideration. House rules also state that if a member wants to affect the outcome of a matter in litigation, the member can file a brief with the court, make a floor statement, or insert a statement into the Congressional Record. Directly calling officials to influence an on-going enforcement matter is not an option.

Moreover, the rules state that a member may not claim he or she was merely requesting “background information” or a “status report” because the House has recognized that such requests “may in effect be an indirect or subtle effort to influence the substantive outcome of the proceedings.”

As I noted before, CREW’s complaint does not automatically trigger an investigation. But it certainly puts the issue squarely before the Dem leadership — should Hastings remain on the ethics committee?