Someone please fire Tom Delay

How many scandals can someone be involved in? If House Majority Leader Tom DeLay spent half as much time doing something good for the country that he spends being…well…unethical, he might actually be an OK guy; but alas, that would not be the Tom DeLay we have come to know.

Just for starters, let’s get some ground rules. The Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives on Gifts and Travel state that "a Member, officer or employee may not accept travel expenses from 'a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal.'"

This situation goes back all the way to 1997 (see how long his ethics have been absent?) and explains what Tom DeLay was doing on that trip to Russia that was funded by money from Russian oil lobbyists. Oops.

And if that didn’t catch enough attention, there was the more than $500,000 that he paid to his wife and daughter from his national political action committee, AMPAC. His daughter was lucky enough to also get over $3,500 per month since 2003 from AMPAC, and a whopping $222,000 in fees (for her consulting firm) from his House campaign committees.

If that’s not enough, add to it the accusations that he laundered some corporate money that was used to rig congressional election districts to enhance his power in a way that Enzyte could never do; metaphorically (and who knows? Possibly literally) prostituting himself for legislative favors, bribing other Congressmen (not that we’re surprised at that one), and getting rid of the Republican chairman of the ethics committee who, according to author Jim Hightower, “had the audacity to reprimand him three times in the past year.”

So what does Tom DeLay do to try to get away from the media’s focus on his unethical behavior? Be the poster boy for the Terry Schiavo case. That’s right, Mr. Unethical became the mouthpiece for an overreaching Congress and the religious right, trying to place the focus on the “culture of life” rather than a culture of ethics (or lack, thereof), adding to this his veiled threats of liberal, activist judges (which he just now apologized for.)

All this and DeLay’s response is that the media are out to get him. Classic.

more info:
TruthOut
Alternet: Hammer Nailed
Alternet: "Whimpering Tom" DeLay
DeLay's Apology (USA Today)