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March 16, 2005
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay disingenuously claimed yesterday, "I have yet to be found breaking any House rules." This fast and loose interpretation of ethical standards defies common sense about what Americans expect of their leaders. In the past year, DeLay has been rebuked three times for ethics violations and has abused his position of authority to limit House investigations of his actions.
- How many "rules" does DeLay have to break before he is held accountable for his actions? On September 30, 2004, he was admonished by the House Ethics Committee for trying to bribe a colleague into supporting the Medicare bill. On October 6, 2004 he was rebuked for using the Federal Aviation Administration to track down Texas legislators during a state partisan squabble. He was also rebuked for appearing to solicit campaign contributions from corporations interested in an energy bill. And new charges have surfaced that lobbyists picked up the tab for expensive vacations DeLay took to Britain and.
- Conservatives claim to stand for personal responsibility, so why are so many of them supporting unethical behavior? As DeLay's troubles have mounted, his right-wing allies have moved to prohibit investigations of his actions and stack the Ethics Committee with cronies. DeLay personally paralyzed the Ethics Committee after his third rebuke for ethics violations last year. He pushed through new rules to hamstring the committee and had the three Republican committee members who ruled against him kicked off. (Two of the replacements contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund.) Why won't more of DeLay's colleagues stand up for ethics and responsible behavior?
- DeLay's ethical wall of shame is starting to crack. Although appeals to ethical standards go unheeded, self-interest appears to be making inroads. An unnamed "senior House Republican" told House Speaker Denny Hastert, "The perception is that we're not in control of the ethics process, that DeLay can do what he wants…It's giving the party a bad name."
Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund. |
Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund. |
