Look behind the "scream"

Watchdog group favors GOP as targets
BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood shouldn’t feel singled out over flak from a nonprofit Washington watchdog group that recently questioned his ethics over federal money spent buying a pickup truck from his dealership.In the last three years, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has targeted dozens of elected congressmen, White House officials and political action committees in its news releases and requests for investigations by federal agencies.

The list includes former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, White House adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

They, Mr. Sherwood and the vast majority of the group’s targets, share a common trait: They’re Republicans or have ties to Republican groups.CREW criticized Mr. Sherwood because about half the $21,000 the Wyoming County Conservation District spent on a new pickup truck at the congressman’s Tunkhannock Chevrolet dealership came from federal money he had obtained for them. District officials say Sherwood Chevrolet was the lower of two bidders.

The congressman says he didn’t know about the purchase until well after the fact and plans to ask the House Ethics Committee for advice on future transactions...



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