Here’s an interesting article compliments of the

Associated Press:

Bush Orders Staff to Review Ethics
Rules

President Bush, reacting to the indictment of a high-level White House
aide in the CIA leak case, has ordered his staff to get a refresher on
ethics rules.

In a memo sent to all White House aides on Friday, the counsel’s office
said it will hold briefings next week on ethics, with a particular focus on
the rules governing the handling of classified information. Attendance is
mandatory for anyone holding any level of security clearance.

“There will be no exceptions,” the memo said.

The week after, the counsel’s office is holding sessions on general
ethical conduct for the rest of the staff.

“The president has made clear his expectation that each member of his
Executive Office of the President (EOP) Staff adhere to the spirit as well
as the letter of all rules governing ethical conduct for EOP Staff,” the
memo said.

After a two-year investigation, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of
staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted last week, charged with lying
to investigators and the grand jury about leaking the CIA status of Valerie
Plame, who was a covert officer. Plame’s CIA status was exposed in July 2003
after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the
administration of twisting intelligence before the war to exaggerate the
Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is said to be still considering
whether Karl Rove, Bush’s top political adviser, illegally misled
investigators. Libby has resigned and Rove remains on the job.

The case has had some Republicans inside and outside the White House
grumbling that Bush needs to take more aggressive steps to confront the
fallout, which has included a drop in the public’s confidence in the
president’s credibility.

Apparently the President is now admitting there is wrong doing on his staffs
part in the leak investigation. If he isn’t then why the sudden requirement to
attend a ethics refresher? Something else really strikes me as interesting here.
It is November. Customarily, there are staff changes in the White House in
January. Why not wait and do these at that time. It would seem like the
“conservative” thing to do. Well I guess Bush is really worried about another
leak happening and figures he better get this done now. Well that, or perhaps he
feels this will raise his approval which is hovering around the 35%-37% mark.