Now We Know Why Davis Backed Off His Katrina Investigation

On Tuesday, Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) announced that his committee would hold hearings into Bush's Post-Katrina Recovery Disaster.

Then later in the day, Davis abruptly abandoned those plans on orders from Majority Leader Tom DeLay.  Davis is not exactly a shrinking violet, so tongues were wagging in DC about why Davis would so quickly assume the role of obedient puppy.

Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) announced Tuesday that his panel would hold hearings on the federal response. But Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday night that he had told Davis not to hold the hearings.

Now we know Davis is so desperate to stay on good terms with leadership.

Since March, Davis has been auditioning for a new job with one of the major special interests in Washington.  He has apparently made the cut to finalist and doesn't want his lucrative new job jeopardized because his future employer couldn't be sure if he could deliver with leadership after he departs the Congress.  So he is eager to carry their water at every turn.

Here's the WaPo story on Davis' job search.

But several sources in both parties in Virginia and on Capitol Hill said they are hearing that Davis is a candidate to head the National Federation of Independent Business, one of the nation's leading lobbying organizations. Its president and chief executive, Jack Faris, announced his retirement in March, and a search for a new leader has been underway since then.

It is despicable that Davis would set aside his hearings on the whim of Tom DeLay who is apparently more interested in protecting the President than he is in getting at the truth. 

But it also a major concern that Davis has spent an entire session of the Congress auditioning for a new job with special interests, while presiding over one of the major committees in the House.

It is a sad commentary that the culture of curruption so permeates GOP Washington that not a single Republican interviewed for the WaPo story even thought to raise that obvious ethical problem.