S.O.P.:

House members in both parties scramble to disclose free travel (Larry Margasak, 5/31/05, Associated Press

Scrutiny of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special interest trips by members of Congress and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second- ranking Democrat, an Associated Press review has found.

At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government.

The AP review of thousands of pages of records covered pre- 2005 travel that was disclosed since early March. That's when news stories began scrutinizing DeLay's travel, prompting lawmakers to comb through their files to make sure they had disclosed their travel.

While most of the previously undisclosed trips occurred in 2004, some date back to the late 1990s. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer recently disclosed 12 trips, the oldest dating back to 1997.

Stacey Bernards, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Democrat, said the office searched the files after the travel issue was raised initially by "Republicans doing opposition research to deflect from their own ethical issues."

Hoyer's undisclosed trips were nearly doubled by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, with 21. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, reported 20 past trips and Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, reported 13.

Republican and Democratic House members were nearly equal rules violators in failing to disclose their personal trips within 30 days after the trip's completion.

No fair, this was supposed to be about Tom DeLay...

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 31, 2005 12:00 AM