Shelby dodges ethics probe for nowSenator shielded by unwritten rule until

[seemslikeadream]

By Alexander Bolton
An unwritten rule of the Senate Ethics Committee will forestall until after the election an investigation of allegations that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) leaked classified national-security information.

But as the rule is unwritten, it is unclear whether it is being properly applied to Shelby or whether he may be benefiting from his GOP colleagues’ control of the ethics panel.

The Senate rule echoes a similar rule — albeit a written one — in the House which states the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall not accept any complaint filed within 60 days of an election in which the target of the complaint is a candidate.


Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)

However, if the Senate had the same clearly defined rule as the House, such a rule would not protect Shelby from investigation during the weeks leading up to Election Day. That’s because the Department of Justice referred its investigation of Shelby’s conduct to the Senate ethics panel at the end of July, a full four months before the general election and two months after the Alabama primary.
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http://www.thehill.com/news/092204/shelby.aspx