Yesterday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay aka “the Hammer,” and two “associates” were indicted on the grounds of ‘criminal conspiracy’ by a Texas grand jury. Rep. DeLay also announced yesterday that he would step-down from his post temporarily and did so.
[…]DeLay, 58, was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay’s national political committee.
“I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today,” DeLay said.[…]
Criminal conspiracy is a state felony punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The potential two-year sentence forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.[…]
The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to “knowingly make a political contribution” in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account.[…]
“The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code,” says the four-page indictment. “The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election.”[…]
“This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat,” Madden said, citing prosecutor Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.
Madden later added: “They could not get Tom DeLay at the polls. They could not get Mr. DeLay on the House floor. Now they’re trying to get him into the courtroom. This is not going to detract from the Republican agenda.”[…]
“The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California.[…]
A state political action committee he created, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted earlier this month on charges of accepting corporate contributions for use in state legislative races. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used to advocate the election or defeat of candidates; it is allowed only for administrative expenses.
With GOP control of the Texas legislature, DeLay then engineered a redistricting plan that enabled the GOP take six Texas seats in the U.S. House away from Democrats — including one lawmaker switching parties — in 2004 and build its majority in Congress.
This could either be fun or just painful to watch as the investigation unfolds and more information is released to the media and public (*if* anymore is released). But still, I’ll stay tuned to CNN just to see what happens to our deal ol’ Hammer, and the possible political ramifications that could follow for those who were involved, and are now among ‘the accused’.
It made my day.
I’m still doing my happy dance.
“I did nothing wrong. Everybody is lying and out to get me!” seems to be the denial of the week for Bushadminco & allies. I wonder how long they can keep using that strategy effectively.
I remember when Rep. Rostenkowski from Chicago, once Chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, ended up losing his office and his seat in the House and spent 15 months in jail for misappropriation of funds. Turns out that he took some postage money (and not really a whole lot, either) and applied it to his campaign funds.
It was illegal. It was also kind of trivial as these things go, and it was something that so many people had done that no one initially thought that much about it.
We’ve heard from both sides on this issue; that Tome DeLay has committed a crime, that he didn’t, that this is on the up-and-up, that this is politically motivated. I have to wonder whether we’re going to find out at the end of the day that DeLay has done something that a lot of people did, but happened to get caught, or happened to piss someone off enough that they went after him anyway they could. Kind of like Martha Stewart.
Or maybe he did something really reprehensible. Or maybe this is baseless and politically motivated (or it’s not baseless, but it’s still politically motivated). Anyway, while it’ll keep Tom DeLay busy, I’m sure the GOP will just bump everyone up one notch, fill the lowest rung of the leadership ladder with an up-and-comer, and keep on moving. Who knows? The next guy might be more effective than Tom DeLay. It’ll be interesting to see what this is all about, and if it actually has any political fallout (outside of DeLay’s district in Texas) at all.
No one should ever be surprised about members of congress doing dirty things with money. Everyoneknows they do it, andwhen they get caught they really need to shut up and take the beating. It seems to me that DeLay shouldn’t go around screaming just yet, if he is guilty it will justlook even worse down the line.
Though it’s a long road (with many pitfalls) from indictment to conviction, I am gleeful at the indictment. An added embarrassment for the Chief of the Counterfeit Compassionate Conservative And Oh Yeah By The Way Conspicuously Caucasian Caucus and his Dither of Dolts, a well-deserved public humiliation for DeLay (who, despite his defiance, must surely be chagrined that someone finally had the nerve to accuse him) whose hubris is almost boundless, and another example of the truth that spouting pieties is not the same as being a moral or ethical person.
As for the “money laundering”, swapping corporate dollars for personal dollars for contribution to campaigns, I fear it is widespread. The multigazillionaire for whom I worked for 23 years in San Francisco had routinely expected employees to hand over personal checks in exchange for cash or a check from one of his companies (disguised as expense reimbursement) in order to circumvent limits on corporate giving to campaigns. When the practice came to my attention (he asked me to call employees to make the arrangements), I declined to participate. He said, “Okay, I’ll make the calls myself.” I picked up my phone. He said, “Who are you calling?” I said, “The State Attorney General.” No money swaps were made that year to my knowledge, and so far as I know, none was made during my tenure — though the practice may easily have been resumed once I had retired.
Perhaps if the job market had not been so good at the time, and if my combined business/computer skills had not at that time been such a rare commodity and very much sought in the market, I’d have buckled to the request. I’m frequently, alas, not nearly so brave as my ethics are high.
O.K. Here is a link to a precis of Roy Blunt’s political career. Rep. Blunt, R-Mo, is your new interim House Majority Leader. If Tom DeLay doesn’t beat the rap, the only part of that title Rep. Blunt might lose is the “interim”. Seems he’s in his 7th term, is a whiz at raising money and spreads a lot of it around to the campaigns of other GOP candidates and office holders. He’s got lots of friends.
Doesn’t say a word about his political principles, though.