Well That’s Just Discreditable

I learned a new word today. The word is “discreditable.” I read it, looked it up at dictionary.com and then used it in a sentence. That word is made mine, now.

 

I found it when I read that the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Texas Congressman Randy Neugebauer for “conduct that reflects discreditably upon the House.”

I saw the incident that CREW took offense to on MSNBC yesterday. It really was crass and arrogant, but those are Randy’s two middle names. Here is the clip that I got from HuffingtonPost.

It has more content than what I saw which was cut down. The guy in the bike helmet laid into him pretty well, don’t you think? I don’t know why he was so calm, and maintained decorum because Neugebauer clearly did not.

Anyway, CREW makes a valid point in their complaint, one I’d like to quote:

“Rep. Neugebauer’s conduct violates House Rule 23 which requires all members of the House  to conduct themselves ‘at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.’ This ethics standard is considered to be ‘the most comprehensive provision’ of the code. When this section was first adopted the Select Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the 90^th Congress noted it was included in the Code to deal with ‘flagrant’ violations of the law that reflect on Congress as a ‘whole’ and that might otherwise go unpunished.”

Neugebauer is unapologetic for this behavior. Yesterday on a Lubbock AM talk radio show Neugebauer twisted the whole thing around, blaming the park service for keeping “honor flights” from visiting the WWII veterans memorial, something that, quite to the contrary, they were doing. He also falsely claimed that he told her that she should be ashamed of the Park Service, when clearly he was bullying her about being ashamed.

CREW is making a federal case out of this exchange, literally, and my hope is that he gets his butt kicked over this one.