| The former
Democratic congressman who filed a successful ethics
complaint against House Majority Tom DeLay (R-TX) last
year told RAW STORY
the ruling against a DeLay political action committee
is a sign that DeLay’s case for innocence is hemorrhaging.
“Obviously he was hoping the judge would rule
in favor of the defendants and he would have declared
it a great victory,” former Texas Rep. Chris Bell
told RAW STORY Thursday.
“And now I think that he has to realize that his
arguments aren’t going anywhere, and the web is
getting bigger and bigger.
“I think it also has to be somewhat of a wakeup
call for his colleagues that have already been indicted
that their arguments could very well fail,” he
added. “And if they do, I think that might motivate
some of them to start spilling the beans about exactly
what transpired.”
Today, a judge ruled that the treasurer of DeLay’s
political action committee must return $200,000 in illegally
collected corporate campaign contributions.
Bell filed a three-count ethics complaint against DeLay
last year, and subsequently lost his seat after DeLay-engineered
redistricting. DeLay was admonished by the Republican-controlled
Ethics Committee on two counts: making remarks suggesting
an energy company fundraiser affected his votes, and
abusing his congressional power to have the Federal
Aviation Administration track a plane containing Democratic
legislators.
The Committee deferred action on a third complaint
surrounding improper activity by DeLay’s Texans
for a Republican Majority PAC. Bell says he believes
the ruling today will kindle that complaint, possibly
forcing the ethics committee to revisit his complaint
in addition to new charges DeLay faces in lieu of a
lobbyist paying his travel expenses.
“Even if the grand jury were not to indict Tom
DeLay,” he said, “I think there would be
a basis for the ethics committee to take action on that
particular count given the fact that a judge has now
found the conduct was illegal.”
“TRMPAC was Tom DeLay,” he continued. “He
created it, and he oversaw, it, and so for him now to
pretend like he was blind deaf and dumb to everything
that was going on is rather absurd.”
Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington,
the watchdog that wrote Bell's complaint, called for
a reopening of last year's charge.
"The House Ethics Committee has run out of excuses
for avoiding an investigation into Rep. DeLay’s
involvement with TRMPAC," Executive Director Melanie
Sloan said in a statement.
Jason Stanford, who runs Texans For A Cleaner Congress
and an opposition research firm, says Americans should
ask themselves what DeLay's involvement is with Republican
congressmen on a local level—an effort advocated
by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“We’re not surprised here in Austin,"
Stanford said. "But people all around the country
are just getting to know Tom Delay. People are going
to have to ask themselves: If he bought a legislature
in Texas, what is he doing with my congressman?"
DeLay has sought to distance himself from the committee
he created, which has been an major fundraising engine
for Texas Republicans.
DeLay has said attacks on his character are attacks
on the “free-market” agenda he has pursued,
and asserts he has done nothing wrong.
“Democrats have made clear that their only agenda
is the politics of personal destruction, and the criminalization
of politics,” DeLay’s office asserted in
an
email to his Texas supporters in April. “They
hate Ronald Reagan conservatives like DeLay and they
hate that he is an effective leader who succeeds in
passing the Republican agenda.”
Of Bell, he remarked, “The Chris Bell matter
further exposed the lack of due process in ethics matters.”
Conservatives maintain the push to investigate to DeLay
is a coordinated effort by liberals and Democrats to
tarnish DeLay’s name and depose him as leader
while concurrently seeking to regain control of the
House.
DeLay deputy whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) told
Roll Call critics are “essentially
attempt[ing] to derail what we in the majority are trying
to do. This is more than just Tom DeLay; this is the
Democrats trying to regain majority status.”
Bell said he hopes DeLay will remain in office until
2006, allowing his constituency to vote in a “referendum”
on his actions.
“I certainly want Tom DeLay to stay in office
until at least 2006, and I would like the next election
to be a referendum on his conduct,” Bell remarked.
“For all intents and purposes, Tom DeLay is the
leader of the Republican party. It’s his agenda
that’s being acted upon in Washington.”
“Given everything,” he continued, “his
extremist agenda, his unethical conduct, put all that
together and I think the American people will decide
to go in a different direction.”
Bell says he is “leaning toward” a run
for Texas governor in 2006. He plans to make an announcement
in July.
DeLay has not been charged with a crime and congressional
immunity kept him from being forced to testify in the
suit. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats in Congress are expected to pounce on the
long-awaited ruling.
“This is even more smoke around Tom DeLay's ethical
lapses,” a senior Democratic aide told RAW
STORY. “If the Ethics Committee was functional,
they could get to work to find the fire. The Republicans
should stop playing games with the Ethics Committee
staffing issues and get to work on its investigations.”
Article originally published May 26, 2005. |
