Democratic ethics woes slow Hill reforms

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Delays in setting up a congressional ethics panel and the troubles of two Democratic U.S. House of Representatives members hurt reform efforts, sources say.

A unnamed Democratic Party insider told the Wednesday edition of the Washington publication Politico that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D Calif., is being stung by the secrecy and delays surrounding new Office of Congressional Ethics as well as ethics controversies surrounding Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and John Murtha, D-Pa.

Pelosi's Republican opponents are having success parlaying their troubles into anti-Democrat backlash in the 2010 elections, the source said.

"Republicans are getting some traction on the ethics issue," the party insider told Politico. "What they are saying is getting play outside the Beltway."

The House ethics committee has been investigating Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, for six months, looking at allegations over personal finances and of using his clout to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. Murtha has been linked to the criminal investigation of defunct lobbying firm, the publication said.