Watchdog Demands Harman Ethics Probe

Is an ethics committee investigation in Rep. Jane Harman's future? DC-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington certainly thinks one is warranted, and just faxed faxed a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) requesting an investigation into Harman's role in alleged quid-pro-quo scheme. CQ reported late Sunday that the California Democrat was caught on an National Security Agency wiretap agreeing to lobby for the reduction of charges against two alleged Israeli spies in exchange for another suspected Israeli agent's help in convincing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) to name Harman to chairmanship of the House intelligence committee. Harman denies the allegations. "Harman deserves to be sanctioned...,' Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, told Mother Jones. "She was willing to use a criminal investigation as a tool just to get a chairmanship. Obviously there's political gamesmanship on Capitol Hill, but it has to end before you get to the Grand Jury's door. That's really beyond the pale."

CREW also faxed a letter to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) Monday afternoon, requesting an investigation into why no charges were pursued against Harman. CQ alleged in its story that an investigation of Harman was quashed because then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wanted the powerful Democrat's continued help defending the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. "It looks like the Justice Department dropped the case not because they didn't have the evidence but for political reasons," Sloan says. "It's yet another example that [the Bush administration] would do anything to advance their agenda, that they treated the Justice system as a political tool."