Editorial: Is Pelosi serious about cleaning up the House?

WASHINGTON - Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will make history this week when she becomes the first woman elected as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. What also will likely be seen this week in her handling of the Conyers scandal is whether or not Pelosi means what she says about cleaning up the ethics mess left by the Republicans (and not a few prominent Democrats as well).
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is scheduled to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, but only because he agreed when Pelosi previously made clear that she intended him not to waste time on impeachment proceedings against President Bush. But now we learn that Conyers has his own problems with obeying the law...

Update from Captain Ed:
With the new Democratic majority sounding off about cleaning up Congress, one might think they would consider their own proposed leadership first. After trying to push Alcee Hastings and John Murtha into the upper echelons of the House, Nancy Pelosi now has to consider the newly-admonished House Judiciary chair's future. If Pelosi is serious about cleaning up Congress, the Examiner says that John Conyers must go:
The House Ethics Committee released its report on Conyers on New Years Eve, a move apparently timed to slide under everyone's radar. It scolded Conyers for using official staff to work on his re-election campaigns and to perform personal chores for him. The latter is a breach of ethics, but the former is a violation of election law. It's a big problem, especially for the man who would run the House committee on law enforcement.
Does Pelosi really wants to clean up Congress, or does she just want to use ethics as a partisan bludgeon? The answer will be seen in her action against Conyers now that this report has been made public. If he takes the gavel, then the Democrats simply want to use ethics as a dodge to get themselves elected. Call Pelosi to tell her what you think at her DC offices.