Are you going to the “Keep Tom DeLay Out of Jail” dinner tonight in Orlando? All you need is $250 and you can join the other 1,000 devoted followers.
It’s too early to know whether the dinner is the beginning of the end for DeLay or part of a comeback against the allegations.
“It’s usually a sign you’re in deep trouble,” scholar Norm Ornstein of the think tank American Enterprise Institute said of the dinner. “They wouldn’t do this if it was just a few pebbles.”
Of course, most of tonight’s diners have gotten much more than $250 from DeLay over the years. This is just a pittance, as paybacks go.
Florida Republican lawmakers have benefited from thousands of dollars in campaign donations from DeLay and his political-action committee, often just when some of them needed it most during tight races.
[Rep. Tom] Feeney, for instance, received $10,000 from DeLay’s political-action committee in his first congressional campaign. Rep. Ric Keller of Orlando got $21,000 from DeLay and his PAC in his first two elections. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River, received $20,000 in her first two elections.
Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., R-Fort Lauderdale, who is in a swing district, has received more than $31,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics…
Shaw said the donations from leaders such as DeLay, which are common, are for the purpose of “maintaining the majority.”
“He is our leader, and in my opinion he will remain that leader,” Shaw said.
Funny they should mention Clay Shaw. He has own “DeLay Problem” at the moment. Read on.
