Upon learning that a Tom DeLay fundraising scandal may force him from his House leadership position, it’s tempting to ask, “Which one?”
In this case, an investigation into one of the House majority leader’s political action committees — Texans for a Republican Majority — may soon lead to an indictment against him, and in turn, force him to resign as majority leader.
Roll Call began reporting this week:
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has begun quiet discussions with a handful of colleagues about the possibility that he will have to step down from his leadership post temporarily if he is indicted by a Texas grand jury investigating alleged campaign finance abuses.
But if DeLay insists he’s done nothing wrong, why won’t he fight to keep his post? As luck would have it, he won’t have a choice.
Republican Conference rules state that a member of the elected leadership who has been indicted on a felony carrying a penalty of at least two years in prison must temporarily step down from the post.
The very idea of DeLay having to give up his leadership position is enough to make me giddy. Few people in public life are as despicable as DeLay and seeing a felony investigation strip him of his power would be simply beautiful.
So, is DeLay likely to face an indictment? Salon says yes.
According to sources close to the case there is little doubt that indictments will be handed down. At the center of the investigation is John Colyandro, who showed up at a deposition for the civil suit with his criminal defense lawyer. Colyandro has reportedly been given limited immunity. Jim Ellis, who ran DeLay’s Washington PAC and is hardly naive about campaign finance law, is dangerously close to the center of the inquiry. He directed TRMPAC and called most of the shots, and e-mails turned up in the civil suit connect him to the $190,000 TRMPAC sent to Washington. Bill Ceverha, Tom DeLay’s roommate in “Macho Manor,” a legendary 1980s legislators’ party house, was the PAC treasurer and should have been aware of how money was raised and spent. Two Republican state reps served on the TRMPAC board and raised campaign money.
The majority leader himself may have enough of what Richard Nixon liked to call “plausible deniability” to avoid indictment. But he cannot claim he knew nothing, or even little, of what his PAC was doing in Texas. There are too many documents, e-mails and phone logs. Too many people are talking under oath, when the threat of going to jail for perjury encourages them to tell the truth. A Colyandro deposition in the civil suit already places DeLay squarely in the PAC’s decision-making process: in conference calls and major decisions TRMPAC made. It’s also part of the public record that DeLay was one of the founders of the PAC and served on its board.
But before we get our hopes up too high, there’s a few things to keep in mind. One, no matter how likely it appears, DeLay may not get indicted. Two, even if he is, DeLay could reassume his position as Majority Leader if he beats the charge in court, if the charge is dropped, or if the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor.
Still, if a fundraising scandal forced DeLay to step down, even just temporarily, it would be a major development and a major scar on the House GOP.
The talk of DeLay’s “discussions” about stepping down were first reported in Roll Call, which is primarily just for Capitol Hill insiders, but already the mainstream press is picking up on the story. CBS News even offered a general overview in case you’ve forgotten what the story’s all about. For more background, you can check some of my previous posts on the issue.
And, just as an aside, it’s never too early to start wondering who might replace DeLay as Majority Leader. The smart money is probably on Roy Blunt, the majority whip and a DeLay ally. And wouldn’t you know it, Blunt has had some ethics problems of his own.