Payback

I missed this article when I was reading the Washington Post yesterday, but it looks like payback time for the House Ethics Committee chairman:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.

Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.

Even the Post's editorial board, a relatively new addition to the right-wing media chorus, sees fit to slap the GOP's hand on this one.

But it is possible to see this move as something other than political tit-for-tat. Indeed, one might see it as part of a larger pattern. For instance, just as restricting lawsuits is the Republican's solution to the problem of bad doctors driving up the cost of healthcare, perhaps short-circuiting the ethics process is their solution to bad Representatives driving up the political costs of their majority.