Tom DeLay in Deep DooDoo

[RickSp]

Even the mighty GOP bows before bad press.

Stung by criticism that they were lowering ethical standards, House Republicans on Monday night reversed a rule change that would have allowed a party leader to retain his position even if indicted.

House G.O.P. Voids Rule It Adopted Shielding Leader

[Zeus20]

Quote by: RickSp Even the mighty GOP bows before bad press. House G.O.P. Voids Rule It Adopted Shielding Leader

Well sounds good on the surface, but as usual, there's always the loop-holes :rolleyes:

Democrats remained opposed to the ethics package because a rule dismissing complaints in the event of a ethics committee tie would stymie enforcement.

"It still eviscerates the ethics process," said the spokeswoman, Jennifer Crider.

same ol same ol...Delay is the poster boy for Christain hypocracy :(

[Spartacus]

Turns out the GOP is just as corrupt and plays as fast and loose with the rules as the old Democrats did and can't handle the light of day being shone upon them. DeLay's time is coming and he knows it. He's just hoping that he can increase his stature before they try to drag him down for violating Texas law with his lobbying group.

[ericsp23]

I just heard about this new legislation pending in the Texas legislature:

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...0earle_me.html

A member of Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership team wants to give the Texas Ethics Commission veto power over local prosecutors' prosecution of crimes under the election code. Rep. Mary Denny, R–Aubrey, chairwoman of the House Elections Committee, would create an office under the state commission to conduct election code violation investigations such as Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle's two-year investigation of the Texas Association of Business, Texans for a Republican Majority and Craddick. House Bill 913 would prohibit a prosecutor from pursuing charges if the state office determines there is no criminal offense. Shannon Edmonds with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association said the group is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the legislation but added, "It seems to keep prosecutors from prosecuting crimes." .... But a critic of the bill, Craig McDonald with Texans for Public Justice, said the Ethics Commission, appointed by state officials and split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, is not known for taking action against officials. "I think it's incumbent politicians circling the wagons to protect themselves from prosecution," McDonald said. "It puts a roadblock in the way of local prosecutors, who should have a free hand in prosecuting violations of the law."

DeLay is only mentioned in passing in the article, but you have to know he is behind this. I don't know if I have ever seen a more blatant abuse of political strength. Basically, this law is designed to let the GOP get away with breaking the law as it applies to elections. I can't think of any other possible rationale for it.

[bishop]

if they don't have a problem with authoritarian rule, that's exactly what they're going to get.

[Scribbler1]

Nice to see the respect for the seperation of powers they have in Texas. No problem, just pad it out and call it "the justice act" or "the judicial fairness act" and the asshole sheep will lap it up.

It's a good thing for the rest of us the Republicans (NOT the REAL Republicans) are so strong on law and order.

[RickSp]

Quote by: Scribbler1 Nice to see the respect for the seperation of powers they have in Texas. No problem, just pad it out and call it "the justice act" or "the judicial fairness act" and the asshole sheep will lap it up. It's a good thing for the rest of us the Republicans (NOT the REAL Republicans) are so strong on law and order.

There used to be a limit to the amount of time that the Texas State legislature was allowed to convene. The theory was if they had less time they might do less damage. There was an old saying that your life and liberty were never safe when the Texas legislature was in session. Unfortunately the same might be said about the US Congress.

[PatrickHenry]

60 Minutes had a look at the prosecutor:

Name is Ronnie Earle and

what he cares about most is rooting out public corruption. Over the years, he’s indicted more than a dozen politicians, including a U.S. senator, the state’s attorney general, and a sitting Texas Supreme Court justice. But none of his cases ever created much of a stir outside of the Lone Star State until recently, when he launched a criminal investigation that seems to be honing in on one of the most powerful politicians in the country -- Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas, the Republican House Majority Leader. <snip> Earle says politics has nothing to do with this case. "This is not about Democrats and Republicans," says Earle. "This is about cops and robbers. This is about the abuse of power." What does Earle have to say about being called "vindictive and partisan" by DeLay? "Being called vindictive and partisan by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog," says Earle. "It sort of comes with the territory. But that’s my job. That’s what I’m supposed to do."

Maybe you recall that the House Majority Leader, Jim Wright was brought down by lesser charges than what "The Hammer" is facing here. 'Course that was in the era of Democrat majorities, arguably more ethical than the present day Republican experts at election fraud.

Meanwhile in Texas, three of the indicted companies have agreed to cooperate with the investigation, and lawyers following the case say the prosecutor may try and “flip” the two DeLay associates indicted in the case -- offering Jim Ellis and TRMPAC Executive Director John Colliandro a deal in exchange for evidence against DeLay. "It feels as though you’re circling Tom DeLay, just making a big circle right around him, with him in the bull’s eye," Stahl says to Earle. "Well, this is an ongoing investigation, and I really can’t comment in any more detail about any place that the investigation might go," says Earle.

Go, Ronnie, Go!

[PatrickHenry]

Lou Dubose in Salon.com has this analysis on the situation the Hammer finds himself in:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20.../index_np.html
or truthout: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/040805D.shtml

DeLay and the House leadership would later summon lobbyists it had put in positions of power on K Street and order them to work on behalf of the Republican agenda - including the G.W. Bush tax cuts. So corporate lobbyists became an extension of the Republican whip operation in the House. And, significantly, a profit center for the Republican Party and its ancillary advocacy groups. The junkets involving Tom DeLay, his wife, his staff and former staffers, are the perks the majority leader has earned for putting this huge funding operation in the field. DeLay has been traveling on the lobby tab for a decade now. But a year ago, two DeLay loyalists created a problem that might be more than even he can manage. The recent scandal involving DeLay's longtime associate and fundraiser Jack Abramoff, and DeLay's former press aide Mike Scanlon, provide a small glimpse into a huge and potentially scandalous Republican operation used to funnel lobby money, and money squeezed out of lobbyists' clients, into accounts controlled by the party. In the recent Indian gaming scandal, Abramoff and Scanlon sold Tom DeLay's operation to American Indian tribes desperate to protect their gambling operations, according to sources I talked to on three reservations. As proof of DeLay's clout, Abramoff and Scanlon pointed to his role in killing a bill that threatened Indian gaming in 2001. In total, they billed the Indians an astonishing $82 million, more than twice what corporate clients such as General Electric paid for contract lobbying in the same three-year period. Once the two lobbyists established a revenue stream that provided for personal enrichment unlike anything they had ever imagined, they began paying what Sicilians call tributo to the people and organizations who made it all possible. For example, Abramoff raised $200,000 for George Bush's presidential campaign and donated hundreds of thousands to other Republican candidates. Scanlon, who was paying off college loans when he left DeLay's press office in 1999, contributed $500,000 to the Republican national governors' organization in 2002 - the largest individual contribution the group received that year. Abramoff directed the Coushatta Tribe of southwestern Louisiana to contribute $100,000 to an environmental group set up by Gale Norton while she was secretary of the interior. He had the Coushattas donate $20,000 to DeLay's Washington PAC. And $25,000 to Republican anti-tax activist Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. (In return, the Coushattas got an invitation to a Norquist fundraiser held at the White House.) Suddenly, American Indian tribes that had traditionally made modest political contributions to Democrats were making huge contributions to Republicans. (The two lobbyists had no interest in dirt-poor Plains Indian tribes that operated no casinos.) So one lobbying organization that got too greedy threatens to sink DeLay's K Street operation - and DeLay with it. When the remarkable reporting of Shawn Martin of the American Press in Lafayette, La., made its way to the front page of the Washington Post, the majority leader was confronted with a crisis he couldn't manage.

I hope Traficant gets out of the slam before DeLay does his time. Bad publicity to have too many US Representatives doing time at once...

[DoloresIbarruri]

Quote by: PatrickHenry It looks like all the Republicans are gonna rally to Mr. DeLay.

This is not the only time Republicans rally to a crook. They do this constantly (I guess because lots of Republicans are crooks). What baffles me, is how ordinary citizens can be so stupid as to ever vote for a Republican, no matter who it is. See, even if the Republican running for office were not a typical Tom DeLay, the fact that he/she belongs to the Republican Party means they're financially helping it, and the Republican Party is not just nothing to brag about, but it's been tied to some of the biggest crimes, lack of ethics, scams and crap I've ever read any political party be invoved in, in any country. In any other country, this sh*t wouldn't be permitted. Other countries have no problem seeing a crime like DeLay's as a cause sufficient for ousting him. However, crime seems to be admired here, first and foremost by the kings of it: Republicans. Oh well...

[PatrickHenry]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/po...age&oref=login
or truthout: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041405B.shtml
The Hammer wants a Jihad against the judges who wouldn't do what he said in the Schiavo case. Is this just an attempt to distract from unwanted scrutiny of his ethics?

[PatrickHenry]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...ck=1&cset=true
Looks like the ethics committe is ready to look closer at DeLay.

[PatrickHenry]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...ck=1&cset=true
or truthout: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091405C.shtml
DeLay Associates Face More Ethics Charges

Two associates of US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) were indicted Tuesday on additional felony charges of violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate election law for their role in the 2002 legislative races. The indictments were the latest charges from a grand jury investigating the use of corporate money in the campaigns that gave Republicans control of the Texas House. In Texas, state law prohibits using corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of state candidates. The two men indicted Tuesday, Jim Ellis, who heads Americans for a Republican Majority, and John Colyandro, former executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, already faced charges of money laundering in the case. Colyandro also faces 13 counts of illegally accepting a corporate political contribution. The money-laundering charges stem from $190,000 in corporate funds that were sent to the Republican National Party, which spent the same amount on seven candidates for the Texas Legislature. Joe Turner, representing Colyandro, said attorneys for the Republican National Committee examined and cleared all the questioned transactions. "We don't believe a crime was ever committed," Turner said. Once DeLay helped Republicans win control of the state Legislature in 2002, the majority leader engineered a Republican redistricting plan that gave the state's US House delegation a 21-11 majority in the current Congress. DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee on three matters last year, including what the panel said was improperly getting the Federal Aviation Administration to intervene in a state political dispute. The dispute involved tracking down Democratic legislators who fled the state to avoid voting on the redistricting plan.

DeLay is the shining example of Republican ethics. Their values are doodley squat.

[Scribbler1]

Nothing wrong with their values, it's just where they come from is the problem. Not from the heart and not from the head but from the mouth.

[PatrickHenry]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101805K.shtml

Austin, Texas- Rep. Tom DeLay will likely be booked in a Texas county jail this week despite attempts by his attorneys to bypass the fingerprinting and mug shot process.

Maybe the authorities will forego the "perp walk" for the Hammer.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: PatrickHenry http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101805K.shtml Maybe the authorities will forego the "perp walk" for the Hammer.

I hope not. MSNBC is probably paying 150 reporters and cameramen to hang around the jail just in case it DOES happen.

[PatrickHenry]

The courtroom it is!!

[PatrickHenry]

So now, DeLay's aide has pleaded guilty to bribery: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...news_0905delay

WASHINGTON (AP) - Michael Scanlon, a former partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to bribe public officials, a charge growing out of the government investigation of attempts to defraud Indian tribes and corrupt a member of Congress. Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle and agreed to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to the tribes. Scanlon, who is expected to cooperate in the investigation of Abramoff and members of Congress, could face up to five years in prison. Outside the courthouse, Scanlon attorney Plato Cacheris said his client ``is regretful for what happened to the tribes'' and is trying to do what is right by cooperating with the investigation.

You can run but you cannot hide, Tom "The Hammer" DeLay!! The prosecutors will be examining your buttcrack soon! Leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives!! My, my!! What a perfect example of Republican ethics...

[Walmas]

Bribery. How deep does the corruption spread?
P.s. im not partisan about this even though i hate delay. I think politicians are corrupt. I feel that there are many more politicians are guilty of this and other crimes.

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: Walmas Bribery. How deep does the corruption spread?

Lots of pigs want to feed at that rich trough.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/123105X.shtml

Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are putting the finishing touches on a plea deal that could be announced as early as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The plea agreement would secure the lobbyist's testimony against several members of Congress who received favors from him or his clients. Abramoff and a former partner were indicted in Miami in August on charges of conspiracy and fraud for allegedly lying about their assets to help secure financing to purchase a fleet of gambling boats. For the past two weeks, pressure has been intensifying on Abramoff to strike a deal with prosecutors since his former business partner, Adam Kidan, pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in connection with the 2000 SunCruz deal. Abramoff's cooperation would be a boon to an ongoing Justice Department investigation of congressional corruption, possibly helping prosecutors build criminal cases against up to 20 lawmakers and their staff members.

But one little piggy might have been greedier than all the others!
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/123105Y.shtml

The US Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group. During its five-year existence, the US Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the money's origins.

No legal bar exists to a $1 million donation by a foreign entity to a group such as the US Family Network, according to Marcus Owens, a Washington lawyer who directed the IRS's office of tax-exempt organizations from 1990 to 2000 and who reviewed, at The Post's request, the tax returns filed by the US Family Network. But "a million dollars is a staggering amount of money to come from a foreign source" because such a donor would not be entitled to claim the tax deduction allowed for US citizens, Owens said. "Giving large donations to an organization whose purposes are as ambiguous as these . . . is extraordinary. I haven't seen that before. It suggests something else is going on.

Interesting story for those who have discerned Mr. DeLay's true nature. GOPer's need not bother..