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And Speaker Hastert wonders why people are questioning his leadership skills:

Congressman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) pleaded guilty today to corruption charges arising from the influence-peddling investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first elected official caught up in a scandal that may damage his party's chances in next month's midterm elections.

Ney emerged from a month in alcohol rehabilitation to appear in federal court in Washington, where he admitted he performed official acts in Congress for lobbyists in exchange for campaign contributions, expensive meals, luxury travel and skybox sports tickets.

Ney also admitted to taking thousands of dollars in gambling chips from an international businessman who sought his help with the U.S. State Department.

House Republican leaders immediately vowed to expel Ney in a post-election session if he has not resigned by then.

Ney announced a full month ago that he was going to pleas guilty to these charges. He should have been expelled from Congress immediately. But no... not this Congress. This Congress decided it was a good idea to allow a man who has admitted to accepting bribes to remain in office. And realizing they'd hit on such a wonderful new idea, they took it one step further. Now that Ney has admitted his guilt and is set to head off to prison, they've decided to let him resign at his leisure. Take a few weeks.. Pack up your stuff... Say your goodbyes... No need to rush, apparently.

And no, this isn't good enough:

"Bob Ney must be punished for the criminal actions he has acknowledged," said a joint statement released today by Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.), Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (R-Oh.). "He betrayed his oath of office and violated the trust of those he represented in the House. There is no place for him in this Congress. If he chooses not to resign his office, we will move to expel him immediately as our first order of business when Congress resumes its legislative work in November."

It's not like this is a surprise. They knew about it 30 days ago when Congress was still in session. They could have taken care of it then. But no no... no need. Apparently corruption just isn't something the House leadership thought was a priority.