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This time it’s Congressvarmint Mike Conaway out in Midland / Odessa – where men are men and sheep are scared.

It appears that Ole Republican Mike, who represents one of those districts specifically drawn by Tom DeLay, is carrying on the tradition of holding everybody else to a higher standard of ethics.

“Yeah, yeah, and the forecast for tonight is dark,” Juanita responds to this information.

A Republican lawmaker unveiled a bill that would benefit oil-and-gas companies that pay him royalties.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) was the chief financial officer of an oil-and-gas exploration firm before his election to Congress in 2004 and still has an extensive portfolio of investments in the sector.

Though it is difficult to ascertain the exact wealth of members from the financial disclosure forms they must make public, Conaway’s filing in 2009 showed he had between $100,000 and $276,000 in oil-and-gas holdings.

Conaway sponsored legislation in 2009 to retroactively lift income limits for a tax break that would benefit some of the oil-and-gas companies that continue to give him royalties.

Now, to throw a little fat on that fire, Conaway served on the investigative ethics subcommittee that charged Maxine Waters with a conflict of interest over her dealings with her husband’s conflict of interest in minority owned banks.

“But,” Juanita reminds us, “in all honesty, everybody knows that there’s a different set of rules for women and a library of rules for black folks.”

Conaway still contends he did nothing wrong – mainly because the loophole didn’t pass.  To justify his involvement in this conflict of interests he commented, “Many of my constituents feed their families with oil-and-gas interests.”

“Yeah, Honey,” Juanita grins, “caviar and filet mignon are getting pricey.”