One of them comes back to haunt a leading House liberal. But who gave him the okay? Also: Deciding Bush's travels will cost him.
p>
AN ADMISSIBLE ADMISSION
br>
Rep.
James McDermott
acknowledged in court papers
last month that he leaked to two reporters a recording made of a
cell phone call between Rep.
John Boehner
and
then-Speaker
Newt Gingrich
, Rep.
Dick
Armey
and Rep.
Tom DeLay
. The
conversation between the House leadership included how best to spin
the expected House Ethics Committee report on Gingrich's
fundraising tactics for non-House related projects.
/p>
A Florida couple using a scanner intercepted the December 1996
conference call, most likely picking up the signal from Boehner's
cell phone. The couple then traveled to Washington, D.C. and handed
the tape over to McDermott, a liberal Democrat from Washington
state and then member of the House Ethics Committee, who says he
listened to the tape, considered it to be of significant public
interest, and then leaked its contents to two Capitol Hill
reporters.