But don’t expect anything to come from these two new scandals – or anymore than has come from the umpteen past scandals related House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-East Hades). In fact, the way the Bug Man has de-fanged and re-arranged the House Ethics Committee, he probably won’t even receive a rebuke.
Still, maybe there is lemonade to be made out of these new lemons. DeLay will continue to hang onto power, just like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did after he took heat for closing down the government – and even after it became common knowledge on the Hill that he was boinking an aide at the very moment he and his minions were going after President Clinton for boinking his aide, Monica Lewinsky.
In 1996, the Democrats used Gingrich’s unpopularity with the public to run against him as a shadow candidate on the Dole-Kemp-Gingrich presidential ticket. If DeLay hangs on through next year, the Dems could deploy a similar tactic in the ’06 Congressionals – make the entire GOP House delegation defend not only their seats but their allegiance to their corrupt leader.
Well, we can dream, can’t we? For what’s worth, here are links to details about les Scandals DeLay dejour:
A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements.
DeLay reported that the trip was sponsored by a Washington-based nonprofit organization. But interviews with those involved in planning DeLay’s trip say the expenses were covered by a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000 lobbying campaign.
The wife and daughter of Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay’s political action and campaign committees, according to a detailed review of disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission and separate fund-raising records in Mr. DeLay’s home state, Texas.
Most of the payments to his wife, Christine A. DeLay, and his only child, Dani DeLay Ferro, were described in the disclosure forms as “fund-raising fees,” “campaign management” or “payroll,” with no additional details about how they earned the money.
