Down goes DeLay

Congressional Democrats have pushed to clean Congress since long before indictments came down on the culture of corruption and continue to wait for Republicans to sign on.

Tell the GOP now that Abramoff has pled guilty, it is time for real reform.

Sign the petition at http://www.houseofscandal.org.

When a bugspray guy makes US House Leader for
the Repub licken party, you should know its a
bigger problem in the party.

Chronology: House Majority Leader DeLay
……and how far does the corruption extend ????

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Timeline.html

Saturday, January 7, 2006 · Last updated 10:39 a.m. PT
Chronology: House Majority Leader DeLay
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

-1984: Elected to represent the 22nd District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives.

-1994: Elected majority whip.

-July 1997: DeLay is part of a group that tries, but fails, to oust House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

-October 1998: DeLay attacks the Electronics Industries Alliance for hiring former Democratic Rep. Dave McCurdy as its president and later receives a private rebuke from the House ethics committee for “badgering a lobbying organization.”

-November 2002: Elected majority leader without opposition.

-September 2004: Grand jurors in Texas indict three DeLay associates – Jim Ellis, John Colyandro, and Warren RoBold – in an investigation of alleged illegal corporate contributions to a political action committee DeLay founded. The investigation involved the alleged use of corporate funds to aid Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature in the 2002 elections.

-September-October 2004: DeLay is admonished by the House ethics committee on three issues. The committee chastises DeLay for offering to support the House candidacy of Michigan Republican Rep. Nick Smith’s son in return for the lawmaker’s vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. The panel also says DeLay created the appearance of linking political donations to a legislative favor, and that he had improperly sought the Federal Aviation Administration’s intervention in a Texas political dispute.

-January 2005: House Republicans reverse a controversial rule passed in November 2004 that would have allowed DeLay to keep his leadership post if he were indicted.

-March 2005: Media reports spur Democrats to question DeLay’s relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under federal investigation. Delay has asked the House ethics committee to review allegations that Abramoff or his clients paid some of DeLay’s overseas travel expenses. DeLay has denied knowing that the expenses were paid by Abramoff.

-April 2005: House Republicans scrap controversial new ethics committee rules passed earlier in the year that would have made it harder to proceed with an ethics investigation. Democrats said the rules were meant to protect DeLay.

-September 2005: DeLay is indicted on charges of conspiring to violate Texas political fundraising law and forced to step aside as majority leader. Ellis and Colyandro are indicted on additional felony charges of violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate election law for their role in 2002 legislative races.

-October 2005: DeLay, Ellis and Colyandro are indicted by a second grand jury on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering. DeLay turns himself in to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Houston, where he is fingerprinted and photographed. He smiles broadly in his mug shot to thwart its use by political opponents. DeLay’s attorneys win removal of a Democratic judge from the case because he has donated to Democratic causes and candidates. The Associated Press reports that DeLay and Rep. Roy Blunt, who succeeded DeLay as majority leader, orchestrated a political money carousel in 2000 that diverted donations secretly collected for presidential convention parties to some of their own causes.

-November 2005: Former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon pleads guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials, a charge that stems from the government investigation of work he and his former partner, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, did for Indian tribes. The investigation continues.

-December 2005: A judge dismisses the conspiracy charge but refuses to throw out the more serious allegations of money laundering, dashing the congressman’s immediate hopes of reclaiming his House majority leader post and increasing the likelihood of a criminal trial next year.

-January 2006: Abramoff pleads guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud and agrees to cooperate in an influence-peddling investigation that threatens powerful members of Congress. DeLay abandons his bid to resume his post as House majority leader.

Impeach Bush and Cheney Now!

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org

Congress must impeach Bush and Cheney, say Greens, citing White House lawlessness, growing threat to U.S. democracy, and war crimes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing a litany of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, abuses of power, and violations of the U.S. Constitution, Green Party leaders urged Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney as soon as possible.

“The evidence that President Bush has abused his office and betrayed the trust of the American people is now so overwhelming that failure to undertake impeachment would make Congress even more complicit in this administration’s lawlessness,” said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green Party co-chair and spokesperson for the National Women’s Caucus. “Three more years of Bush and Cheney will do lasting damage to the rule of law and result in even more death and destruction under Bush’s reckless policies.”

“The Bush Administration blocked an independent probe into 9/11 while making fraudulent statements about the reasons for invading Iraq, and now admits that it spies on American citizens in disregard of legal limits. What more does Congress need before it says enough is enough?” Ms. Garrett added.

The Green Party of the United States called for Congress to commence impeachment of President Bush in July, 2003, after he ordered the invasion of Iraq. The resolution accused the President of numerous deceptions to justify the invasion, as well as violations of the U.S. Constitution (restriction in Article II on the deployment of Armed Forces to defense of U.S. borders; required adherence to international treaties in Article VI) and of international law (U.N. Charter; Geneva conventions).

“In early 2003, there already existed credible evidence that the war was based on White House fraud: false claims that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs, sought nuclear weapons materials, and colluded with al Qaeda. But most Democrats feared accusations that they’d be soft on terrorism and unpatriotic if they criticized the invasion,” said Jody Grage Haug, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “Three years later, after more than 2,100 U.S. troop deaths, tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians, a continuing military quagmire in Iraq, and indications that the invasion and occupation inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment around the world, especially in Islamic nations, some Democrats have caught up to the Green Party.”

In addition to White House falsehoods leading up to the war on Iraq, Greens listed other grounds for impeachment:

President Bush ordered the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens without obtaining a warrant in accord with the Fourth Amendment and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Recent FBI targets of surveillance (nonviolent peace and human rights organizations, Catholic Workers Group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Vegan Community Project) prove that his administration’s goals have more to do with politics than with preventing terrorism. Mr. Bush’s insistence that such surveillance is justified and will continue is further proof of his contempt for the law.

Numerous Bush Administration policies — denial of due process, extraordinary rendition, secret detention centers, and torture at various sites, including Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay — have violated U.S. and international law. Vice President Cheney attempted to gain a license from Congress for torture, even though it has been proven ineffective for gathering accurate information (e.g., Ibn Al Shaykh Al Libi’s testimony about links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, later recanted). Greens noted that the agreement reached by Mr. Bush and Sen. John McCain purportedly outlawing torture allows a significant loophole (see “Tortured Logic: McCain-Bush deal has a big loophole” by James Ridgeway with Michael Roston, The Village Voice, December 19, 2005, ).

Congress must investigate whether the White House endorsed the use of outlawed weapons materials such as depleted uranium, which causes radioactive contamination of humans (U.S. troops as well as Iraqi civilians) and the environment; white phosphorus, a chemical whose use in warfare is proscribed by international agreement; and cluster bombs, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Their use in Iraq is a war crime for which either the President himself or the Defense Department must be held accountable. Other war crimes, which require impeachment if based on White House orders, include the military targeting of journalists, individual reporters as well as television stations (Al Jazeera and Abu Dhabi), and looting of hospitals, museums, and private homes.

“Many Americans have realized that the Bush-Cheney ideology is about installing a permanent corporate elite in power, buttressed by military power and public fear over perceived and fabricated threats, while missing real dangers to our security,” said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. “The response to Katrina, dismissed evidence of global warming, manipulated scientific research, energy policy crafted in secret with corporate lobbies, new prescription drug policy, attack on Social Security, 2000 and 2004 election irregularities, and other evidence should lay to rest any illusion about this Administration’s disregard for the interests of the American people.”

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

“Congress Must Reject Patriot Act, Ban Warrantless Spying”
Press release from the Green Party of the United States, December 19, 2005
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_12_19.shtml

“Greens Call for Impeachment of Bush, Withdrawal of Troops by the Winter Holidays”
Press release from the Green Party of the United States, July 21, 2003
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_07_21_03.html

DeLay’s defiant, take-no-prisoners style had won him the admiration and respect of fellow Republicans, but his mounting problems cast a shadow over the whole chamber.

DeLay is battling campaign finance charges in Texas and was forced to step aside temporarily as majority leader last fall after he was charged in his home state. He has consistently maintained his innocence and said he intended to resume his leadership post once cleared.

His about-face came amid growing pressure from fellow Republicans who were concerned about their own political futures in the wake of this week’s guilty pleas by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

I guess the Hammer won’t be golfing at St. Andrews for a while.

The fat lady doesn’t truly sing until the Bug Man loses in November.