House leaders don’t force Young ethics probe

House Democratic and Republican leaders are declining to take action to compel the ethics committee to investigate the notorious Coconut Road earmark.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog tracking the Coconut Road controversy, is calling on House leaders to sign onto an ethics complaint it filed last September. Under House rules, the ethics committee must open an investigation into a matter if any lawmaker submits a written request.

{mosads}So far, however, no member has submitted a written request, and it is very rare for lawmakers to do so. Aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House GOP leaders on Monday would not indicate whether their bosses would sign on to an ethics complaint.

The $10 million Coconut Road earmark is controversial because it was changed outside the normal legislative process in an apparent breach of House rules. Specifically, language in the 2005 highway bill was changed to build an interchange on a Florida highway at Coconut Road after the underlying bill was approved by Congress but before it was signed by the president.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) last week acknowledged that his staffers made the change, but did not say exactly which aides did so or exactly why the change occurred. Watchdog groups have said Young made the change to help a developer who owns land along Coconut Road. Any investigation is likely to center on the nexus between Young’s office and Rick Alcalde, a lobbyist whose clients include Florida Gulf Coast University and a developer who owns land along Coconut Road in Florida.

Late last week Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she thought the ethics committee should investigate the circumstances surrounding the change just hours before the Senate passed a measure directing the Department of Justice (DoJ) to launch a criminal probe of the matter.

So far, however, she has declined to take action to back up her statements about the need for an ethics probe.

“The Speaker made her position clearly known — that this is within the authority of the [ethics] committee whether a complaint is filed or not,” said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. “A public pronouncement of her position clearly demonstrates where she stands on the issue.”

Aides to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) were also non-committal.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said there was no change from his boss’s statement last week, which expressed the need for an internal congressional probe of the matter.

Blunt Spokesman Antonia Ferrier said Blunt thinks Congress should “seriously examine any changes to legislative language that occurred after both chambers have passed a bill.”

After the Senate vote, Pelosi’s office indicated she will support the DoJ provision and will not try to strip it out of the underlying bill making technical corrections to the 2005 highway bill.

Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense said he was encouraged by last week’s Senate action. A DoJ probe could look into whether former staffers and members played any role in changing the earmark, something that is beyond the ethics committee’s jurisdiction. But, he said, a DoJ probe likely would focus most of its attention on potential criminal violations while a serious ethics committee review would look into whether House rules have been violated.

“The ethics committee has a unique role here,” he said. “There needs to be a two-pronged approach.”