Rep. McDermott held responsible for crime

My Congressman lost in court again. Who's counting? 3 times now? And the US House Ethics agreed in a bipartisan report last December. Jim McDermott maintains that laws apply to you and me, but not to him. As a member of the House Ethics committee he should be held to a higher standard, not a a lower one. He has fancy wording for it, but that's what he means. CBS News:

Rep. Jim McDermott had no right to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that McDermott, a Washington Democrat, should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call. McDermott's offense was especially egregious since he was a senior member of the House ethics committee, the court said. When he became a member of the ethics panel, McDermott "voluntarily accepted a duty of confidentiality that covered his receipt and handling of the ... illegal recording. He therefore had no First Amendment right to disclose the tape to the media," Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote on behalf of the court. Four judges agreed with him. The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, more than $700,000 for leaking the taped conversation. The figure includes $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.