The Politico reports that on-going ethical scandals continue to haunt the House GOP caucus and its leader, John Boehner.   Apparently, political spending concerns are preventing Boehner from purging the party of ethically challenged members like Rick Renzi (AZ) and John Doolittle (CA):

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner took his job last year with a pledge to cleanse his party's scandal-stained reputation on Capitol Hill. In recent weeks, Boehner has been getting an unpleasant education in how hard that turns out to be.

When Reps. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) became the subjects of FBI raids, Boehner pushed them to give up their committee assignments. But party operatives said Doolittle and Renzi are not facing pressure to resign from the House for now -- in part because the House GOP campaign committee does not want the expense of competing to keep their seats in a special election.

And Boehner is coming under fire from his own members over the decision to replace Doolittle on the House Appropriations Committee with Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). Calvert himself is facing ethics scrutiny over a land deal in his Southern California district.

The Calvert decision underscores the complexity of Boehner's task, as he tries simultaneously to clean house and keep peace within his own caucus. The California delegation was insistent that the coveted Appropriations seat go to one of their own, following long-standing custom. But the move has upset other GOP members and some conservative bloggers, who fear that Calvert's alleged problems will feed the party's reputation for corruption.

If only John Boehner the Republican leader would act like John Boehner the leadership candidate, the Republican Conference would be in a much stronger position," said a House Republican aide who works for a lawmaker upset with Boehner's move. "Decisions like the Calvert appointment cripple our party's ability to be associated with reform, and until our leadership changes direction, they are leading this conference even further into the political abyss."