Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) has been named by Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi as the new chair of the House Ethics Committee.   Tubbs-Jones served on the panel that wrote the Ethics Committee report on the Foley scandal.   The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the hometown paper of Rep. Tubbs-Jones, focused on her extensive free travel: 

Tubbs Jones notes that her 75 free trips since 2000, the third most of anyone in Congress, were within the bounds of congressional rules. She said the privately paid travel, whether to Barbados, Boston, Miami or Panama City - some of her destinations this year - helped her better understand issues and do her job.

A number of trips were for speeches and events sponsored by nonprofit groups such as the National Bar Association and Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Tubbs Jones' free transportation, lodging and meals since 2000 were valued at $101,220, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks congressional travel.

Trips to the Caribbean basin sponsored by the Carib News Foundation "connect leadership of the Caribbean with African-American members of Congress, just as the Jewish members of Congress are connected with Israel," Tubbs Jones said.

The countries are beautiful, she said, but "a member of Congress must travel if you're making decisions on international issues."

None of Tubbs Jones' trips has been linked to influence peddling. On a separate travel-related matter, however, Tubbs Jones reimbursed her political campaign after a Federal Election Commission audit found $8,311 in campaign credit-card charges from 2001 and 2002 suspected of being for personal use, including the purchases of jewelry, art and clothing.

"That was a campaign issue, and it was an oversight on my part," she said Tuesday.

Pelosi said Rep. Tubb-Jones is "tough and smart"  She'll need to be.  She'll also need real ethics reform -- including an office of public integrity -- if the Ethics Committee is going to matter.