[Mb-civic] DeLay Scandal

[Michael Butler]

Also see below:    
DeLay's Dirty Dozen    €

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    At Least Four Ethics Groups Will Hold Press Conference on Widening DeLay
Ethics Scandal
    Raw Story

    Monday 14 March 2005

    Washington ethics groups on both sides of the aisle will hold a 10 a.m.
press conference Tuesday to discuss the widening ethics scandals surrounding
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and a disgraced lobbyist close to the
congressman, RAW STORY has learned.

    The groups likely to attend include Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Public Citizen, Judicial Watch and
Democracy 21, a spokesperson for one of the groups said. Also in attendance
may be the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Legal Center.

    Judicial Watch, a more conservative watchdog group, has repeatedly taken
a firm stand against DeLay ethics charges.

    The focus of the conference is expected to center on DeLay¹s role with
the House Ethics Committee. DeLay removed three members of the Ethics
Committee in February after they voted to admonish him late last year on
charges relating to appearance of impropriety and abusing his power in
redistricting Texas.

    "The ethics process in the House of Representatives is in total
shambles," Democracy 21 president Fred Wertheimer said in a statement Monday
evening. "This complete breakdown is the direct result of steps taken by
House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other House Republican leaders in this
Congress to undermine the House ethics enforcement process."

    "This includes actions taken by the House Republican leadership to
cripple the House ethics enforcement process and to purge Republican Members
and staff from the Ethics Committee in retribution for holding House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay accountable last year for his multiple ethics
improprieties," he added.

    Among the groups will include Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in
Washington, the watchdog group which wrote the most recent ethics complaint
against Rep. DeLay.

    That complaint, filed by former Rep. Chris Bell, resulted in DeLay being
admonished for a third time by the House Ethics Committee.

 

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    DeLay's Dirty Dozen
    Think Progress

    Monday 14 March 2005

    House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been a busy man these last few
years. Whether bribing congressmen, threatening political opponents,
vacationing with lobbyists, or gutting House ethics rules, it's been hard to
keep up with all the Hammer's activities. Here are twelve highlights from
DeLay's illustrious career:

    DeLay Raises Corporate Cash for TRMPAC:

    DeLay is embroiled in a scandal in Texas for his active participation in
illegally funneling corporate funds to assist state political campaigns.
DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority
(TRMPAC), is under criminal investigation for using corporate money to
finance Texas campaigns. DeLay has tried to distance himself from the group,
but documents show DeLay "personally forwarded at least one large check" to
the group and was "in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's
largest companies" on TRMPAC's behalf. [Source: NYT, 3/10/05; Salon,
10/04/04]

    DeLay Bribes Congressman to Vote for Medicare:

    DeLay has admitted offering to endorse Sen. Nick Smith's (R-MI) son
Brad, who was running for Congress at the time, in exchange for Smith's
"yea" vote on the Medicare bill. His actions violated House rules and earned
DeLay a "public admonishment" from the Ethics Committee. Smith originally
alleged - and then retracted after pressure from House leaders - that DeLay
also offered a $100,000 bribe for his vote. DeLay extended the role call on
the Medicare bill for nearly three hours in order "to avoid an embarrassing
loss." [Slate, 10/1/04; WP, 10/1/04]

    DeLay Uses Taxpayer Money for Partisan Stunt:

    The House ethics panel rebuked DeLay for using government resources to
help locate a private plane he thought was carrying Texas Democratic
legislators. DeLay was trying to force the legislators back to the capitol
so he could push through his "bitterly disputed congressional
redistricting." The ethics report cited House rules that bar members from
taking "any official action on the basis of the partisan affiliationŠof the
individuals involved" and said DeLay's behavior raised "serious concerns
under such "standards of conduct." [WP, 10/7/04]

    DeLay Pays for Golf Tournaments with Cash Meant for Kids:

    DeLay used a children's charity, Celebrations for Children Inc., as
cover for collecting soft money from anonymous interest groups, some of
which was used for "dinners, a golf tournament, a rock concert, Broadway
tickets and other fundraising events" at the Republican convention in New
York. Because the money was supposedly for charity, companies wishing to
curry favor with DeLay were able to do so without revealing themselves as
campaign donors. Federal laws governing tax-exempt charities allow no more
than an insubstantial portion of a group's revenue to be spent on activities
other than the charity's main stated purpose. [CBS, 11/14/03; WP, 3/24/04]

    DeLay Promises 'Seat at Table' for Donor:

    In one of its three public rebukes, the House Ethics Committee cited the
belief on the part of executives at an energy company, Westar Energy Inc.,
that a $56,500 contribution to a political action committee associated with
DeLay would get them a "seat at the table" where key energy legislation was
being drafted. DeLay also participated in Westar's golf fundraiser at The
Homestead resort in the summer of 2002, " just as the House-Senate
conference on major energy legislationŠwas about to get underway." [WP,
10/7/04]

    DeLay Takes Money from Texas Prison Company with Legislation Pending:

    DeLay "took a $100,000 check from a private prison company" - the
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) - at a fundraiser for his
children's charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids. CCA - whose 20-year
history has been "fraught with malfeasance, mismanagement, and abuse" - was
part of an ongoing lobby for a bill that would privatize up to half of
Texas's jails. DeLay is known for wielding major influence over the
Republican-led legislature that will decide on the matter. [Knight Ridder,
11/30/04; Texas Observer, 6/6/03]

    DeLay Blocks Legislation for Partisan Vendetta:

    In 1999, DeLay received a "private rebuke" for threatening retaliation
against the Electronic Industries Association when the trade group named a
Democrat to head its Washington operation. To punish the group, DeLay
stopped two uncontroversial trade bills that would have benefited the EIA
and told the association it would lose all GOP access unless it hired a
Republican instead. The group still hired the Democrat, but a little later,
the EIA quietly hired a former House Republican staff member who promptly
showed up at a fundraiser for DeLay's ARMPAC. [Texas Observer, 2/4/00;
Slate, 12/5/98]

    DeLay Takes Shady Donations for Legal Defense Fund:

    The list of recent donors to DeLay's legal defense fund includes two
lawmakers placed on the House Ethics Committee this year (they replaced
conservatives who were purged for being critical of DeLay), and corporations
implicated in DeLay's alleged fundraising violations. Corporate donors
include Bacardi U.S.A., the rum maker that has also been indicted in the
Texas investigation, and Reliant Energy, "another major contributor to a
Texas political action committee formed by Mr. DeLay that is the focus of
the criminal inquiry." In December, DeLay was forced to return funds from
registered lobbyists because those contributions violated House ethics
rules. [NYT, 3/13/05; Time, 3/13/05]

    DeLay Leaves Ethics Behind on European Vacation:

    DeLay enjoyed a luxurious vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in London
in mid-2000, paid for by an Indian tribe and a gambling services company,
both of which opposed gambling legislation DeLay voted against two months
later. The payment was funneled through lobbyist Jack Abramoff, best known
for teaming up with right-wing religious fundamentalist Ralph Reed to close
down a Texas casino operated by the Tigua Indians in 2002, then persuading
the tribe to pay the two of them $4.2 million to lobby Washington lawmakers,
including DeLay, to reopen it. According to expense accounts obtained by the
Journal, Abramoff financed DeLay and DeLay's staff's stay at the Four
Seasons hotel to the tune of $4,285.35. The total reimbursement for expenses
in London was $13,318.50. [WP, 3/12/05; Raw Story, 2/25/05; WP, 9/29/04]

    DeLay Leaves House Rules Behind on Asian Vacation:

    DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea which, in direct
violation of House rules, was paid for by a South Korean lobbying group. The
Korea-US Exchange Council, a group registered with the Foreign Agents
Registration Act, was created with help from DeLay's former chief of staff.
The cost to send DeLay, his wife and three of his lawmaker friends to Seoul
for three days was $106,921, the fourth largest cost for any single trip
taken by lawmakers between January 2000 and September 2004. [WP, 3/10/05]

    DeLay Kicks Ethics Out of House:

    DeLay and his allies in the House have sought to cripple the House
Ethics Committee. The committee, which rebuked DeLay three times last year,
was purged of its most "responsible" members last month and is currently
"paralyzed" by a proposed rules change that "would prevent the committee
from launching any investigation without the support of at least one
Republican­a restriction designed to protect the majority leader." [WP,
2/5/05; WP, 10/7/04; Time, 3/13/05]

    DeLay Tries to Change Rules to Protect Power:

    DeLay was the driving force behind the decision by House leaders to
abandon an 11-year-old party rule that "required leaders to step aside
temporarily if indicted." The idea was dropped only after rank-and-file
lawmakers complained "the party was sending the wrong message." [NYT,
11/18/04; WP, 3/11/05]

 

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