The issues of corruption that hurt the GOP in 2006 may not be gone by 2008. At least six Republican congressmen have recently been under federal scrutiny, the AP reported last week. Though the Republican conference has remained united, it has come under attack by some conservative bloggers looking to eliminate corruption within their party. Congressman Tom Cole, chairman of the NRCC, sat down with the Iowa Independent yesterday and defended some of his colleagues, along with  discussing the need for a better relationship with bloggers.

One of the congressmen the AP named was Jerry Lewis, a Republican from California; Robert Novak suggested Lewis would not seek re-election next year. Cole, who had not heard that rumor, was incredulous. “I would be surprised,” he said. “I am not convinced that’s the case. I would have to hear that from Jerry. That would be a tragedy because, honestly, he’s a tremendous legislator… a loss to the House.” Cole said that despite allegations of Lewis’ abusing his role as chair of the Appropriations Committee, there has been “nothing proven, and frankly, I choose to—you’ve got to demonstrate to me that somebody has broken the law, and I would be shocked if Jerry Lewis had.”

Congressman Ken Calvert, a Republican from California, has also come under fire after delivering an earmark to a place close to property he owned. Calvert joined the Appropriations Committee by replacing John Doolittle, another California Republican, who recently resigned from the committee after the FBI began investigating his wife's business association with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in prison.

"John Doolittle had to make a very tough decision. I think he made the right decision,” Cole said. “He put the well-being of his conference first, and he didn’t want his constituents to have any doubts, so he’s gone further than he had to and he’s hopeful that the legal process can resolve itself before the election.”

But “the Calvert charges are just bogus,” Cole said. “There’s no indication he’s done anything wrong or inappropriate, so we’ll wait and see, but there’s no indication that he’s under any investigation whatsoever.”

Erick Erickson, the editor of the popular RedState blog, however, is not convinced. He has announced a “declaration of war” against the GOP House leadership for allowing Calvert to remain on the Appropriations Committee and in his “battle plan,” called on RedState readers to “pledge not to give not one dime nor bit of energy to the NRCC.”

Cole said that the bloggers’ actions are “perfectly legitimate” but that he disagreed with their intent. “People have a right to voice their opinion,” he said. “All I would caution anybody is why don’t you trust the collective—If someone has done something wrong, the FBI is investigating or will, if it’s blindingly obvious. I think it’s dangerous if you don’t know the individuals and you don’t know the circumstances.”

Cole said Calvert made his case to the GOP conference and his fellow Republican congressmen sided with Calvert. “We don’t think it’s true,” he said. Cole said his office has not contacted RedState to talk about the issue. “They didn’t bother to ask our opinion beforehand, and again, that’s fine, they’re not required to,” Cole said. “In this case, I just think they’re wrong; again, they have every right to take that action and express their displeasure, but I think in the case of Ken Calvert, they’ve made a mistake.”

Despite the current conflict, Cole is a fan of blogs. “They are one of the more exciting frontiers in political communications,” he said. “It’s a great medium for insurgent political communication regardless of ideological point of view. It’s a tremendous way to link up people that are passionate and committed … They’re noisy and boisterous and full of vitality and that threatens political establishments on either side. But that’s the legitimate voice of democracy.”

He said that the NRCC is working with conservative bloggers to further the GOP message “We try to be accessible to them,” he said. “We’ve revamped our communications department and brought in people of comparable skills.” But he said Republicans are still trying to catch up to Democrats in the blogosphere. “It’s interesting,” he said. “The Democrats have never been able to crack talk radio … [but] they have seized the lead here.” Cole said he hoped to better rely on conservative bloggers in the future. “We certainly recognize conservative bloggers as an exceptionally important point in arguing our case,” he said. “And frankly, we need to do a better of job of communicating with them.”