DETROIT (AP) - Rep. Mike Rogers, a former FBI agent who once investigated organized crime, said yesterday he will try to become the third-ranking member of the U.S. House and work to restore public confidence in a Congress grappling with political corruption.

Rogers, seeking to become the House majority whip, cited the Republican party's support for tax cuts, personal responsibility and extending democracy abroad during its control of Congress.

"Unfortunately, many of those achievements are obscured today as our constituents turn on the news and hear of political corruption and scandal, and government growing at unsustainable rates," Rogers (R-Brighton) wrote in a letter seeking support from GOP colleagues.

"I am afraid we have lost our way in the day-to-day administration of this government," he wrote.

Rogers is likely to face an uphill climb. A spokesman for Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said yesterday that he had locked up 140 votes to become the majority whip. With 231 Republican members of Congress, a candidate for the leadership position would need 116 votes.

Rogers acknowledged he was entering the race "at a significant disadvantage."

"My candidacy is not predicated on a 'sure thing.' To be clear, I am not running against anyone. I am running to give our members a choice for change," he wrote. Rogers's office declined comment on Cantor's suggestions that he had enough votes.

Reps. Roy Blunt (R-MO.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio) are trying to succeed Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who announced during the weekend that he would not try to regain his leadership post. DeLay temporarily vacated the position after he was indicted on campaign finance charges in his home state of Texas.

DeLay and others in Congress have been linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud charges in a congressional corruption scandal. The probe has led Republicans to push for new leadership and raised concerns that it could damage their campaigns in next fall's elections.

Cantor has been serving as a deputy whip under Blunt. Adding to the competition, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) said he would run for the office of majority whip if Blunt wins the race for majority leader, the No. 2 spot behind House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.)

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Midland) was supporting Cantor because the two have worked closely together in Congress, Camp spokesman Sage Eastman said.

Nate Bailey, a spokesman for the state GOP, said Rogers could become Michigan's first Republican to serve in the House leadership since former President Gerald Ford, who was House minority leader. Former Rep. David Bonior (D-Mount Clemens) served as majority and minority whip in the House.

Rogers said he would seek "bold change," including the creation of an independent commission regulating lobbyists' activities and preventing senior congressional aides from quickly turning around to work for firms that lobby Congress.

First elected to Congress in 2000, Rogers served from 1995 through 2000 in the Michigan Senate, where he was majority floor leader. Prior to politics, Rogers worked in Chicago as an FBI field agent, investigating public corruption in its organized crime unit.

The congressman told colleagues that "much to my wife's chagrin, I chose to tackle the toughest assignments, all of which centered around public corruption and organized crime in Chicago."

"I learned a lot about people during my service in the FBI, and those lessons dictate that we must always challenge ourselves to hold people in the public trust accountable," he wrote.