The case against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is clear cut and overwhelming, and yet he may well ride out the current storm.

 

Let’s flash back a few years to 1989. Remember those fond days? At the time a Democratic Speaker of the House was forced to resign for selling books. SELLING FRIGGIN’ BOOKS! And our guy was forced out. Not that Jim Wright was completely clean. But Tom DeLay’s antics are far worse. Comparing Wright’s actions to DeLay’s is much like comparing Bill Clinton to Attila the Hun – sadly enough a valid comparison in the House of Ann and Rush.

 

The ruthless slash and burn politics characteristic of the House Republicans were largely responsible for unseating the Democratic Speaker, taking over the House and maintaining a Republican Majority. The long gathering charges against House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, clearly illustrate a dangerous metamorphosis of those politics.

The trouble with Tom

The charges against Delay betray the wholesale prostitution of the legislative branch of the United States government, as well as ruthless politics camouflaged behind poll calibrated conservative populist and religious rhetoric. More than selling books, the Hammer & Co. broke laws to pile up money, spread influence, and dole out political goods in ways that spit in the face of the public good and line the pockets of themselves and their supporters. These tactics also violate house ethics rules and the law. Within the new Rovian political calculus of divide and conquer, the Hammer and company may well stand a 50/50 chance of riding this out by holding the Hammer up as a noble conservative under attack from Godless liberal detractors.

The charges

Among Tom DeLay has already been formally admonished an unprecedented four times by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee:

1.   The K Street Project, 1999

“Tom DeLay has pushed lobbying firms to deny jobs to Democrats, and hire only Republicans, resulting in another Ethics Committee admonishment for inappropriately pushing a lobbying firm to hire a former GOP congressman. DeLay has pressured GOP lobbyists to make contributions to Republican candidates and the RNC” (Democratic National Committee).

 

2.   Westar Energy, 2004

“In 2002, executives at Kansas energy company Westar wrote a memo outlining how they could purchase a "seat at the table" with $56,500 in contributions to political committees associated with Tom DeLay and the GOP. DeLay was later admonished by the House Ethics Committee for creating the appearance of impropriety” (Democratic National Committee).

 

3.   Texas Redistricting, 2004

“When DeLay and his fellow Republicans were redrawing the Congressional districts in Texas to push Democrats out of the House, he used the Federal Aviation Administration to try and track a plane containing Democratic state legislators. The House Ethics Committee investigated DeLay's actions and once again admonished him” (Democratic National Committee).

 

4. Medicare Bill, 2004

“Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership kept open the vote for the Medicare bill for three hours -- long past the 15 minutes specified in House procedures -- in order to pressure Republicans to vote for the bill. Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) said GOP leaders offered "bribes and special deals," leading to an investigation by the Ethics Committee, which admonished DeLay” (Democratic National Committee).

 

But that’s not all, folks. With characteristic hubris and chutzpah, DeLay also set up a sham children’s charity to wash political contributions:

Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center today filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his new tax-exempt "charity," Celebrations for Children, Inc. (CFC). The complaint charges that the DeLay organization is in fact "a scheme that has been organized by Representative DeLay to allow him to raise and spend unlimited 'soft money' funds for political activities to be conducted in conjunction with the Republican National Convention in New York City" in August 2004 (Democracy 21).

The New York Times reports that Celebrations for Children Inc., was set up in September and that DeLay is not a formal official of the charity. Its managers are Richardson; DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro; and Rob Jennings, a GOP fund-raiser.  Richardson said the charity intended to give 75 percent of the funds it raised to children's charities, including some in New York. The charity has a built-in incentive for potential donors since contributions to non-profit organizations are tax deductible. And DeLay won't have to reveal the names of the donors, which campaign finance experts say insulates anyone who may be trying to curry favor with one of Washington's most powerful politicians. (CBS News).

 

One would rightly ask how could he really do all of that that and still be in office? It’s pretty remarkable, but it doesn’t stop there. Consider these practices, from a man who warned judges that their time will come:

 

• A NYC Cruise Ship for Republican Convention in 2004 was paid for in part by  money from the Celebrations for Children fundraiser - slated to go the Republican Convention – Delay proposed holding it on a luxury cruise liner. (Common Dreams);
• Many contributions to DeLay’s Legal Defense Fund occurred while he was under investigation for violating ethics committee rules, itself a violation. (See here for details about the amount of money the LDF has earned.) In response to this concern the Fund did return $3,500;
• A 1997 trip to Moscow was underwritten by lobbying interests;
• Since 2001, Delay’s political action committees have paid his wife and daughter more than $500,000 (New York Times, April 6, 2005);
• Delay accepted illegal gifts of foreign travel, lodging, and golf outing from lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Washington Post, March 17, 2005). The cost: $70,000 (Salon);
• A Delay trip to South Korea funded by business-financed group created with help of a lobbying firm headed by
• Delay’s former chief of staff (Washington Post, March 10, 2005) The cost: $106,921 (Salon);
• DeLay violated Texas law by funneling money from corporations through RNC to political candidates (Democratic National Committee).

Hey, this stuff is clearly in violation of House ethics rules, and most of it is probably illegal. How the hell does he get away with it?

 

A valid question. Aside from the sheer political shamelessness and ruthlessness that characterize modern Republican strategy, Delay’s cronies have used their considerable influence (see below) to purge the House ethics committee of disloyal Republicans, and to rewrite the rules that  govern investigations. All to protect Tom Delay:

 

Knowing that he faced investigation for a growing pile of scandals, Tom DeLay and the GOP House leadership purged the Ethics Committee of Republicans -- including Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) -- who weren't willing to overlook charges against DeLay, replacing them with members loyal to the leadership. They then changed the Committee rules to make it more difficult to begin investigations. Democrats on the Committee have refused to take any action in protest until the rules are restored (Democratic National Committee).

 

The ethics crisis began last January when the Republicans pushed through, on a party-line vote over Democratic objections, changes in the ethics rule that required a complaint to be automatically dismissed after 45 days if a majority of the committee -- made up of five Republicans and five Democrats -- did not dispose of it by establishing an investigation or voting to dismiss it(Washington Post).

To keep things under control for the moment, Hastert has replaced errant Republican members of the Ethics Committee who voted to admonish DeLay with one of his loyalists and two members who had contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund. To further protect DeLay (and perhaps Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, who took a $50,000 Scottish golf trip paid for Indians while he promised to carry a bill for a Texas tribe), Hastert changed the rule that required investigations to automatically begin 45 days after any member of the House files a complaint. An Ethics Committee investigation now requires a majority vote, and the committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans (Salon).

But why would these people go out on a limb to protect such a corrupt party boss?

 

Well, that’s a good question. As the evidence mounts, many Republicans are slowly distancing themselves from DeLay. However, many are beholden to him, and that’s no accident:

 

• 241 sitting Republican Congressmen have taken money from Delay’s PAC, ranging from $20 to over $40,000 (Campaign for America’s Future).
• Josh Marshall noted April 11, 2005, how interesting it is "how many key Social Security switch-hitters are also high on the list of cash recipients from Tom DeLay. Perhaps the best example is young Rep. Mike Ferguson (R) of New Jersey, the biggest DeLay money recipient in Congress, who clocked in at a cool $42,403." (Center for Media and Democracy).
• In Texas: “…last year [DeLay] added six Texas seats to the Republican House majority by redrawing congressional district lines in Texas.” (Salon)
• From Salon: “Hastert is particularly indebted to DeLay. He ran DeLay's 1995 whip campaign and served as chief deputy whip while DeLay held that office. In 1998 DeLay used his 67-member whip organization to make Hastert speaker, after DeLay's first choice to replace a disgraced Gingrich, Bob Livingston, quit the race when details about his marital infidelity were reported. DeLay has bought and paid for the loyalty of the House.”

• It’s also important to note that not only is the Republican majority a result of DeLay’s politics, but so is the nature of those Republicans – Delay has a habit of threatening and marginalizing moderate Republicans, running them against conservatives in primaries. In the words of Daily Kos, “Two-thirds of the way through the 2004 election cycle, DeLay raised $2.28 million compared to Dennis Hastert's $1.68 million. DeLay also threatens to "primary" Republican moderates who resist his votes, and uses promises of future committee chairmanships. He can also be personable and generous, sponsoring weekly lunches for the Republican caucus” (Daily Kos).
• He also has a way of controlling moderate Republicans in Congress: “In order to allow Northeastern Republicans to appear moderate to their constituents, DeLay allows these "moderates" to take turns voting against controversial bills - a technique called "catch and release." If a Congressman says a bill is unpopular in his district, DeLay will only make him vote for it if his vote is necessary for passage - if his vote is not needed, he or she will be allowed to vote against the party without reprisal. You can see "catch and release" at work every time a bill passes by one vote. In the 108th Congress, a preliminary Medicare vote passed 216-215, a vote on Head Start passed 217-216, a vote on vouchers for DC passed 209-208. "Fast track," aka "trade promotion authority," passed by one vote as well.” The type of discipline he has been able to impose is often compared to the rule of a Prime Minister (Daily Kos).

 

The Hammer’s PAC

• “DeLay’s leadership political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), consistently ranks among the top leadership PACs in giving to lawmakers and candidates. Since 1994, the year Republicans took control of Congress, ARMPAC has contributed nearly $4.2 million to Republican congressional and presidential candidates.”
• “ARMPAC has topped all other leadership PACs in giving to candidates so far in the current election cycle, with more than $780,000 contributed to 85 Republican House candidates and six Republican Senate candidates. Another $2,278 has gone to the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, according to data downloaded Sept. 13 from the Federal Election Commission.
• “During the past 15 years, money from ARMPAC and DeLay’s campaign committee has gone to nearly every current House Republican. Combined, the two committees have contributed to 221 of the 229 current Republican House members since 1989, with almost $2.2 million coming from ARMPAC and about $126,000 from DeLay’s campaign committee. Twenty current GOP senators are also ARMPAC beneficiaries.
• “ARMPAC has contributed almost $40,000 to the ethics committee’s current Republican members since 1994. The most has gone to Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), who has received $16,073 from ARMPAC. DeLay’s campaign committee has also contributed an additional $6,000 among the five Republicans. Neither committee has contributed money to the ethics panel's five Democratic members” (Courtney Mabeus, "A Little Help For His Friends," Capital Eye).

Tom DeLay's abuses are many, and are very well documented. The mere fact that he is still in office, as well as the fact that his removal is not certain, call into question the health of the basic checks and balances of power that are a bedrock of our democracy.