| September 30th, 2005 01:29 PM |
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| monkey_man |
Riffy,
Thank you for keeping the tone of the discourse at a reasonable level. Things can get get heated and ugly in here when posting on these subjects. I will try to do the same.
Delay has a long list of ethics warning's dating back to 1992 (long before Ronnie Earle or Bush for that matter).
Here is a list of the ones that that I could easily find.
DeLay Was Admonished by the Ethics Committee Three Times, With A Fourth Charge Pending:
• ADMONISHMENT 1: DeLay Received Private Admonishment for Continuing with Gingrich's K Street Project. In 1999, the House Ethics Committee sent a letter to DeLay privately admonishing him for pushing the Electronics Industry Association to hire former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-NY) as a lobbyist instead of former Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-OK). The plan was part of DeLay's push to load K Street power lobbying firms with Republicans, which he re-launched in 2004, despite being admonished for it by the Ethics Committee in 1999. [Roll Call, 5/17/99, 3/12/01, 2/11/04; National Journal, 6/12/99, 5/5/01; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, editorial, 7/27/01; Congressional Quarterly Weekly, 5/15/1999]
• ADMONISHMENT 2: House Ethics Committee Admonished DeLay for Bribes for Votes. DeLay violated House standard procedure and kept the 15-minute House vote on Medicare open for 3 hours. Later on, the House Ethics Committee conducted an investigation into whether DeLay threatened and bribed representatives into voting for the Medicare law, including a large contribution of "$100,000-plus" for the campaign of the son of a member of Congress. [Washington Post, 2/6/04, 10/1/04; New York Times, 2/10/04]
• ADMONISHMENT 3-A: Westar Traded Cash To DeLay in Exchange for "Seat At The Table" During Energy Bill Negotiations. An energy company, Westar, gave more than $56,000 in cash to DeLay for a "seat at the table" during energy bill negotiations. As a result, language was added to a bill that specifically benefited Westar. [Wichita Eagle, 5/17/03, Washington Post, 10/7/04, Lawrence Memo, "Suggested Campaign Contributions", 5/17/02]
• ADMONISHMENT 3-B: DeLay Abused Leadership Position and Used Influence To Track Private Airplane. DeLay abused his leadership position and used his influence to direct the Department of Homeland Security track a private airplane carrying Democratic members of the Texas legislature who were rebelling against a DeLay-led Texas redistricting plan. [Washington Post, 10/7/04]
• ADMONISHMENT 4, PENDING: Committee Will Decide Whether to Pursue Action Based on TRMPAC. The House Ethics Committee deferred action on another complaint dealing with DeLay's fundraising group TRMPAC. A Texas grand jury in September 2004 indicted three of DeLay's political associates on charges of using TRMPAC to illegally collect corporate donations and funnel them to Texas legislative races. The ethics committee said it will take no action on the matter "pending further action" concerning the indictments or the Texas-based investigation that prompted them. [Washington Post, 10/7/04]
FIVE TIMES IS A CHARM: In Order to Prevent DeLay from Being Admonished Again, House Ethics Chairman Replaced By Hastert. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert released Joel Hefley of his duties as Chairman of the House Ethics Committee and appointed party loyalist Doc Hastings to the post. The House Republican Caucus approved the measure. "It was done because Mr. Hefley's time had run out," said John Feehery, a spokesman for Mr. Hastert. [New York Times, 2/3/05]
If you do your own search for Delay, Jack Abramoff and ethics or Delay, Abramoff, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis and SunCruz you will find some really shady stuff.
The gist of the current indictment is the breaking of Texas campaign finance laws which are the hardest to break in the country (Texas lawmakers make it very easy to get money to the candidate of your choice). TRMPAC collected money from corporations and send it to the RNC with specific instructions to send the exact amount back to the specific candidates, in effect laundering the money. Ronnie Earle did not make them do this.
I have nothing against Republicans per se, most vote their wallets. Delay is dirty. He is not worth carrying water for and only makes the party look corrupt. As far as Ronnie Earle having a hard on for Delay, that may be true but the prosecutors that went after Gotti with a vengence did so because he slipped thru their hands so many times.
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