Pelosi seeks tougher oversight on ethics - Yahoo! News

Pelosi seeks tougher oversight on ethics - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) called for tighter ethics rules in federal agencies Wednesday after government officials approved the purchase of a $980,000 vacation home by a top Justice Department lawyer with an oil company lobbyist. Pelosi's criticism followed an Associated Press report last week that department ethics officials did not object when Sue Ellen Wooldridge, then head of the environment division, was buying a South Carolina beach house with Donald R. Duncan, the top Washington lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. 'If in fact Ms. Wooldridge got such a pass from the ethics committee of the executive branch, then certainly the executive branch ethics process needs a look as well,' Pelosi, D-Calif., said when asked about the house purchase at a San Francisco news conference. Nine months after the purchase, Wooldridge approved an agreement that allowed ConocoPhillips an extension of pollution cleanup requirements at some of the company's refineries. The company says Duncan was not part of those negotiations."