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LaHood wants to ban lame duck complaints

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., wants Congress to change its rules to bar defeated lawmakers from filing ethics complaints against their colleagues.

Before being elected to Congress, LaHood was chief of staff to former House Republican Leader Bob Michel, a position that enabled him to witness personally the way in which the so-called congressional ethics wars of the 1980s and 1990s -- which led to the toppling of more than one congressional leader -- poisoned the environment in Congress.

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LaHood said he hoped his proposal, drafted as a reaction to the complaint filed against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, by U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas, who was recently denied renomination in the Texas Democrat primary, would prevent the return of a hostile climate on Capitol Hill. The effort, if successful, would be retroactive and would apply to Bell's complaint.

"We need to have a debate about whether to allow lame-duck members to taint the House and do things when a member like (Bell) isn't going to be around," to live with the consequences of his actions, LaHood said.

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The measure, which LaHood wants to amend to the 2005 legislative-branch appropriations bill, was defeated in subcommittee in 5-to-5 tie but will likely be offered next week in full committee.

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