Statement of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Regarding the Complaint Filed by Representative Bell Against Representative DeLay

Statement

When, on October 6, 2004, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct acted on the complaint filed by Representative Bell against Representative De Lay, the Committee stated that it would separately consider the question of whether the complaint contained innuendo, speculative assertions or conclusory statements in violation of Committee Rule 15(a)(4). Today the Committee determined that the complaint did contain such objectionable materials, and a letter that specifies the materials in the complaint that violate this Committee rule has been sent to Representative Bell. Copies of the letter are being released along with this statement. As the letter notes, because this complaint was one that Representative Bell signed and transmitted directly to the Committee under Committee Rule 14(a)(l), he is responsible for those violations. The letter also notes that this provision of the Committee Rules is an important one, the purposes of which, quite clearly, are to maintain a level of decorum in Committee proceedings and to discourage use of the Committee for political purposes.

Documents

• Statement on ethics.house.gov
• Document 1 (PDF)

More

• All House ethics statements