WASHINGTON — Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, has problems with a new Web site designed for Justice Department employees to file complaints about the department, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., now has problems with Cannon.

Cannon's office issued a press release Thursday titled "Democrats Fishing the Net for Oxygen to Keep a Pointless Investigation Afloat," causing Conyers to issue his own press release directed at Cannon about 90 minutes later.

Cannon took issue with a Web site designed by Judiciary Committee Democrats where former and current Justice Department employees can file complaints. Cannon complained Republicans were not notified about this and that it only deals with problems after 2001 — or in other words, only during the Bush administration.

"Political influence neither began nor will it end with the Bush administration," Cannon said in the press release. "The creation of a secret Web site to collect gossip and rumors only accessible by the majority party, and only about the Bush administration, is blatant partisanship. If tens of thousands of pages of documents, dozens of interviews, and witness testimony under oath has not uncovered corruption or interference in ongoing investigations, then it is time for the committee to move on."

Cannon, who is the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, which oversees the investigation into the U.S. Attorney firings, said taxpayers should not be paying a lawyer $250,000 to continue the investigation.

"Does the lack of progress in this investigation indicate that the Democrats are trying to get their money's worth by having a $250,000 lawyer spend his day reading gossip e-mails?" Cannon said.

Conyers shot back with: "I am ... astounded that one of my dear friends on the Republican side who I was counting on to expand upon the emerging bipartisanship on the committee is now carelessly launching ad hominem attacks against all Committee Democrats, including me," according to Conyers' release.

Conyers said there are serious allegations about problems at the Justice Department, and he is "disappointed some of my colleagues want to bury their heads in the sand and claim this is pointless."

Conyers said within three hours of learning about possible House rules violations pertaining to the Web site, it was edited "removing one word" and now complies fully with the rules.

"I am saddened that the serious allegations that decisions about prosecutors and prosecution have been tainted by politics are apparently of no interest to some of my colleagues, and they instead want to talk about Web sites and lawyers," Conyers said.

Cannon said he appreciates that Conyers realized the Web site was improper and changed it.

"My relationship with the chairman is of great importance to me, and though we are from opposite ends of the political spectrum, we have always been philosophically clear and, therefore, able to work together," he said.

But Cannon had one last parting shot:

"Having said that, I view the original Web site as a desperate attempt to find political dirt and possibly hide what they find if the information is not to their liking."

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