Mr. DeLay is raising money for his charity, Celebrations for Children,
which is supposed to help abused and neglected children but operates
more like Mr. DeLay's personal political fund.
A brochure says the organization's "marquee event" for 2004 will be
the Republican National Convention in New York.
Promised events include a "luxury suite" where wealthy favor-seekers
can mingle with congressmen, senators and high-ranking staff members,
a golf tournament at Bethpage Black Course, private receptions,
dinners, yacht cruises, tickets to Broadway shows "and more."
The furor over the Medicare vote has at least penetrated the
hibernation of the ethics panel, prompting an "informal fact-finding."
The panel has a responsibility to surprise the nation, and certainly
the House, by producing a thorough accounting of what truly happened.
Likewise, the committee cannot honorably ignore Mr. DeLay's misuse of
a charity to underwrite his own personal and political agenda.
A real ethics watchdog would retain an independent counsel to
investigate Mr. DeLay's circumventions, and warn members away from the
partying and politicking he has planned in the name of helping
children.
From a New York Times editorial, 2/10/04:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/10/opinion/10TUE2.html
The Ethics Panel Stirs
The House ethics committee, one of Washington's more rubber-toothed
watchdogs, will soon hold its first meeting in four months, with
Republicans explaining that there simply hasn't been much to talk
about.
That's true only if you ignore two major ethics issues that have
cropped up in those months.
But it's not all that surprising that the committee is reluctant to
deal with them because one involves last year's biggest piece of
legislation and the other one of the most powerful members of
Congress.
The committee should fully investigate allegations of attempted bribes
and intimidation made by Representative Nick Smith, Republican of
Michigan, after the infamous long-count vote last November on the
Medicare bill.
The second item on the committee's agenda, harder but more important,
should be the seamy scheme by the Republican majority leader, Tom
DeLay, to exploit a tax-exempt charitable foundation to underwrite his
entertaining, fund-raising and political galas at the G.O.P.
convention this summer.
Mr. DeLay, of course, was part of the leadership that bent House
standards to keep the 15-minute voting period on the Medicare bill
open for almost three hours while members were being frantically
whipped into line.
Representative Smith, a holdout furious at the arm-twisting, dared to
complain publicly that "bribes and special deals" had been offered,
including "$100,000-plus" for the campaign of his son, Brad, who is
running to succeed his father, who is retiring.
Representative Smith later retreated as calls were heard for a
criminal investigation. He insisted that it was "technically
incorrect" to specify bribes.
Rather, he said, an offer of "substantial and aggressive campaign
support" for his son had come from unidentified colleagues.
Mr. DeLay is raising money for his charity, Celebrations for Children,
which is supposed to help abused and neglected children but operates
more like Mr. DeLay's personal political fund.
A brochure says the organization's "marquee event" for 2004 will be
the Republican National Convention in New York. Promised events
include a "luxury suite" where wealthy favor-seekers can mingle with
congressmen, senators and high-ranking staff members, a golf
tournament at Bethpage Black Course, private receptions, dinners,
yacht cruises, tickets to Broadway shows "and more."
The furor over the Medicare vote has at least penetrated the
hibernation of the ethics panel, prompting an "informal fact-finding."
The panel has a responsibility to surprise the nation, and certainly
the House, by producing a thorough accounting of what truly happened.
Likewise, the committee cannot honorably ignore Mr. DeLay's misuse of
a charity to underwrite his own personal and political agenda.
A real ethics watchdog would retain an independent counsel to
investigate Mr. DeLay's circumventions, and warn members away from the
partying and politicking he has planned in the name of helping
children.
__________________________________________________________
Ethics-deficient Republicans investigating ethics-deficient
Republicans? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Harry
.
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