One would like to think DeLay urged the rule rollback because of a newfound reverence for ethics in government. However, he also told the Monday night confab of party leaders that he is confident that he will not be charged in the Travis County probe. The grand jury probing illegal corporate contributions has already indicted three DeLay associates. GOP legislators in Austin are reportedly pushing proposals to remove the authority to prosecute campaign finance violations from county district attorneys and vest it in the state attorney general. That would shift the the investigation from Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican. Another proposal circulating in Austin would simply decriminalize the corporate contributions that spawned the current investigation. Perhaps DeLay and his supporters are betting they can solve his problems back in Texas rather than under the intense spotlight of the Washington media.

Now that Republican leaders are at least paying lip service to ethics in Washington, their counterparts in Austin should renounce efforts to rewrite Texas law to protect DeLay and let the Travis County grand jury complete its investigation without political impediments.