Dems Decline DeLay Investigation

The Republicans in the House have a problem. His name is Tom DeLay, their Majority Leader and a Texan like President Bush. Known as "The Hammer" for his "take-no-prisoners" approach to politics, he has an ethical cloud hanging over his head. The Democrats, who learned from the Newt Gingrich years, that running against the boogie man is a vote winner, have been after his scalp for a while. The GOP finally caved in and offered an ethics probe of the Majority Leader, and the Democrats flatly said "no." They want to keep Mr. DeLay so they can run against him for a while.

The Democrats are unhappy that, after having received 3 admonitions from the House Ethics Committee in the previous Congress, the GOP changed the rules of the committee in a clear effort to protect Mr. DeLay. Before the rule change, an investigation of ethical lapses went before an investigative sub-committee after 45 days. Now, barring a majority vote to the contrary, ethical charges are dropped after 45 days. And since the committee is evenly divided between the GOP and the Dems, both parties have a de facto veto over investigations of their members.

In this specific case, Mr. DeLay faces new charges of going on junkets that foreign groups paid for (contrary to the rules), unacceptable ties to lobbyists, and misuse of campaign funds. These are in addition to the three admonitions from last year. At first, the GOP stonewalled the investigation, and the Democrats fussed in the press, and eventually, the Republicans decided to offer an investigation. And the Democrats refused yesterday.

Top Democrat on the committee, Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, said the problem is bigger than Mr. DeLay. It is the Ethics Committee rule change. The Democrats want to go back to the old system where one party couldn't just run out the clock. And there are two reasons for this. First, Mr. DeLay's political death is better for them if it comes by a thousand cuts rather than a sudden decapitation. Second, if they can force the GOP to change the rules back, they can claim a huge victory on moral grounds -- forcing the Republicans to unchange the rules they changed for their own benefit. If they don't, the Democrats have an issue with which to raise funds. If they do, the investigation of Tom DeLay can drag on until the 2006 elections. The GOP is usually capable of avoiding this sort of defensive posture, but power breeds complacency.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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