I hate to keep asking…

…largely because I don't expect a straight answer, but what's up, Doc?

It looks like a cozy relationship with Preston Gates is only part of the ethics problems confronting the ethics chair…

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show.

In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford.

The company that sent him to England, BNFL, also shows up as a Hastings campaign contributor, as does at least one of its employees. There may be more to find there...

BNFL won a $6.9 billion federal contract in 1998 to convert 54 million gallons of nuclear waste into glass for permanent storage. The contract was promoted by Hastings, who offered amendments to the Defense Authorization Act to pay for Hanford projects, including BNFL work.

But in October 1998, the General Accounting Office began questioning the contract as too lucrative for the company. Hastings continued to defend the contract.

The trip to the U.K. took place in January 2000. Four months later, the Department of Energy abruptly terminated the BNFL deal when it learned the cost could soar to $15.2 billion.

Guess there must have been a fact or two Doc didn't find.

The trip to B.C. wasn't reported as the law requires, although Hastings' staff insists that it must have been lost in the mail. Or the dog ate it. Or something…

No wonder he's thinking about giving up his chairmanship. Operating below the ethics radar is a tougher chore than the Ethics Chairman seems to be up to. Of course, he's blaming it all on the Democrats, but the Democrats didn't endorse the checks, Doc.

Hey, if you're going to resign as Chair, why stop there? Don't the folks in the 4th deserve an honest and ethical Congressman?