It was not a great week for U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, epitomized by his sneaking in and out of Austin Monday for a scheduled fundraiser, in order to avoid a threatened protest and, of course, the press. Impertinent reporters might have raised questions about the “admonishment” delivered to DeLay by the House ethics committee last week. The panel finally acted on a complaint that last November, DeLay had offered campaign support to Brad Smith, son of retiring Republican Rep. Nick Smith of Michigan (and unsuccessful candidate for his father’s seat), in exchange for the elder Smith’s vote in favor of the GOP’s Medicare bill. (That was during the unprecedented late-night donnybrook when DeLay stopped the clock for three hours of arm-twisting rather than allow the bill to be defeated.)
Nick Smith initially told reporters that he’d been offered $100,000 for his son’s race, but recanted that allegation, apparently when he realized that it placed DeLay afoul of laws against bribery (which proscribe offering “anything of value” in exchange for a member’s vote). Without Smith’s explicit testimony, the committee was reduced to unanimously reprimanding DeLay for an “improper” offer of a “quid pro quo” – and DeLay thanked the committee for its “guidance regarding a novel and very specific subject matter. … I would never knowingly violate the rules of the House.” (The committee also chastised Nick Smith for making wild allegations that brought dishonor to the House.)
Democrats resorted to meteorological metaphors to keep the heat on. “The ethical cloud surrounding Tom DeLay has quickly grown into a thunderstorm,” said Rep. Chris Bell, D-Houston, who has a separate ethics complaint pending against DeLay, involving (among other things) the Texans for a Republican Majority scandal that has now led to indictments, here in Travis Co., of key DeLay associates. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoed the “ethical cloud” miasma, but Republicans dismissed the charges as so much pre-election grandstanding, with DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella calling the criticism a “hysterical partisan screed.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Capitol Hill, others are investigating the activities of big-time GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff (another close DeLay ally) and PR guru Michael Scanlon (a former DeLay flack) who, among other alleged misdeeds, made big bucks working both sides of Indian gaming legislation, lobbying state agencies (e.g., the Texas AG’s office under now Sen. John Cornyn) to close casinos while promising tribal officials that access to federal officials – like Tom DeLay – would enable reopening the venues. “It is a story of greed run amok,” said Indian Affairs committee chair Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colorado. Abramoff was fired by his high-powered K Street law firm after the story broke, and the two are also subjects of a criminal probe.
Closer to home, former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson sued John Colyandro, one of DeLay’s now-indicted TRMPAC handiworkers, and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (apparently a National Rifle Association front group) for their role in collecting corporate contributions to fund Watson’s victorious opponent, Greg Abbott, in the 2002 attorney general’s race. It’s getting so you can’t tell the indictments, lawsuits, and “admonishments” without a program.
This article appears in October 8 • 2004.
