Political Skullduggery

Conservative Republican Rep. John Shadegg (Ariz) has entered the race to replace Tom DeLay as House majority leader.

Shadegg is running on traditional conservative principles, which have largely disappeared from today's Republican agenda in Washington.

Those principles include a smaller federal government, a ceding of power to the states and lower taxes, Shadegg said.

In an interview this week, Shadegg said he could not compete with the vote-winning operation of Blunt or Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. But Shadegg said he believes a bloc of House Republicans is not convinced either Blunt or Boehner represents true change in the face of a growing lobbying and bribery scandal...

If Shadegg does not win enough votes to propel him to the second-highest position in the House Republican Conference, he still may gain enough to deny Blunt or Boehner outright victory in the first round of voting. If he finishes third, Shadegg will not be able to run in the second round, but he could extract policy promises for his endorsement, advisers to Blunt and Boehner say.

The public interest group Public Citizen yesterday released information on Shadegg's rivals for the majority leader position:

Public Citizen also took a swipe at what it contends is the status quo, declaring Blunt "unfit for leadership." Its 48-page report cites nearly $429,000 in contributions Blunt received from lobbyists since 1999; $485,485 that Blunt's campaign committees paid between 1999 and 2002 to the Alexander Strategy Group, which was linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and is going out of business; and at least 140 subsidized flights on corporate jets that Blunt and Blunt-supported candidates have taken since 2001.

In related news, all is not looking rosy for a Congressman who has been tied to the Abramoff affair.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is pressuring Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to relinquish the chairmanship of the House Administration Committee in the wake of a guilty plea from lobbyist Jack Abramoff that tied Ney to a far-reaching conspiracy to bribe public officials, leadership aides said...

Ney was not named in Abramoff's plea agreement, but his staff has said he is the lawmaker identified in the court documents as "Representative #1." Abramoff acknowledged that he and former partner Michael Scanlon gave the lawmaker gifts including expense-paid trips to the Super Bowl, golf outings in Scotland, concerts and campaign contributions.

Ney allegedly advanced the prospects of a number of Abramoff's clients. Ney has denied any wrongdoing.

It must suck being "Representative #1."