GOP Boss Urges Ney To Resign if Indicted (Ney Responds W/ Threat??) [View All]

[Mark E. Smith]

Cincinnati Enquirer

GOP Boss urges Ney to resign if indicted

No charges filed against lawmaker yet in lobby case

WASHINGTON - Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett said Thursday that he'd ask Rep. Bob Ney to resign from Congress if he were indicted on felony charges.

Bennett stressed that Ney, R-Heath, has not been charged with any crime and that the party backs him for re-election.

However, if the Justice Department investigation of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff leads to a Ney indictment, that would change.

"If he's indicted for a felony, we would ask him to step aside intil the matter is cleared up," Bennett said in a phone interview with the Enquirer.

Ney, who was travelling in Ohio this week, called The Enquirer to repudiate Bennett's comments.

"No party boss tells my consituents what to do," Ney said. "They will decide this thing."

Asked if Ney planned to step down if Bennett urged him to do so, Ney said, "I would say if he asked me to step down that he'd better look in the mirror because glass houses break easily."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/NEWS01/601200414/1056/CINCI

Oh the stories Ney could tell ...