The AP had a good item the other day about Tom DeLay going on the “offensive” in response to the series of ethical and criminal charges surrounding his political empire. One part of the Majority Leader’s response stood out.
[DeLay] also has devised a blame-the-Democrats strategy, portraying his accusers as politically motivated while saying, “I have yet to be found breaking any House rules.”
Is this true? Has DeLay really never been caught? That depends entirely on how casually one defines “breaking the rules.”
* May 14, 1999, front page of the Washington Post:
The House ethics committee has privately chastised House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for threatening a Washington trade association with retaliation last year for hiring a prominent Democrat as its president, sources said yesterday….
The sources said the memo was prompted by concern over DeLay’s role last year in trying to pressure the Electronic Industries Alliance into dropping plans to hire a Democrat, former representative Dave McCurdy (Okla.), as its president. House GOP leaders last fall postponed votes on implementing an international treaty desired by the association to show its displeasure with the group’s decision not to hire retiring Rep. Bill Paxon, a leading Republican.
* October 1, 2004, front page of the Washington Post:
The House ethics committee admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) last night for offering a political favor to a Michigan lawmaker in exchange for the member’s vote on last year’s hard-fought Medicare prescription drug bill.
After a six-month investigation, the committee concluded that DeLay had told Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) he would endorse the congressional bid of Smith’s son if the congressman gave GOP leaders a much-needed vote in a contentious pre-dawn roll call on Nov. 22.
“This conduct could support a finding that . . . DeLay violated House rules,” the committee said in its 62-page report. “. . . It is improper for a member to offer or link support for the personal interests of another member as part of a quid pro quo to achieve a legislative goal.”
* October 7, 2004, front page of the Washington Post:
The House ethics committee last night admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for asking federal aviation officials to track an airplane involved in a Texas political spat, and for conduct that suggested political donations might influence legislative action.
The two-pronged rebuke marked the second time in six days — and the third time overall — that the ethics panel has admonished the House’s second-ranking Republican. The back-to-back chastisements are highly unusual for any lawmaker, let alone one who aspires to be speaker, and some watchdog groups called on him to resign his leadership post.
The ethics committee, five Republicans and five Democrats who voted unanimously on the findings, concluded its seven-page letter to DeLay by saying: “In view of the number of instances to date in which the committee has found it necessary to comment on conduct in which you have engaged, it is clearly necessary for you to temper your future actions to assure that you are in full compliance at all times with the applicable House rules and standards of conduct.”
In all, between 1999 and 2004, Tom DeLay averaged a formal rebuke from the House Ethics Committee about once every 16 months. His four reprimands are the most for a member of the congressional leadership in recent memory. (DeLay isn’t just corrupt; he’s corrupt to a historical degree.) His four rebukes, of course, don’t include ethical transgressions for which DeLay was investigated but that the committee didn’t pursue due to lack of evidence. Nor does it include several new scandals that may lead to even more admonishments for his unethical behavior.
When it comes to upholding ethical standards, DeLay is in a league of his own.