WASHINGTON - May 8 - Now that Neil Volz, former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is pleading guilty to conspiracy in connection with his work for the congressman, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert should insist that he resign immediately.

With Volz’s plea, Rep. Ney will have been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in five separate plea agreements related to the Abramoff matter and his own indictment is clearly close at hand. Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington stated, “CREW has been asking the House Ethics Committee to take action against Rep. Ney for over a year. Although the committee has failed to act, the House leadership has the chance to take a stand against corruption by demanding that Rep. Ney resign.”

Sloan noted that last week, following the plea of Vernon Jackson to bribing Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), a spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Campaign Committee insisted that it was time for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to ask Rep. Jefferson to resign. Sloan continued, “What is good for the goose is good for the gander. For the good of the American people, all corrupt officials, no matter their party, should resign.”

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