ACT NOW, WITHOUT DELAY! Whatever happened to three strikes and you're out?

April 7, 2005

M

Thu, 7 Apr 2005 14:02:50 -0500

[GranniesAgainstGeorge] ACT NOW, WITHOUT DELAY!

ACT NOW, WITHOUT DELAY!

3/29/2005

Whatever happened to " three strikes and you're out? "

It's time to apply it to Tom DeLay, who is the de facto boss of

congress and the GOP's hammer for extracting protection money from

corporations that want their legislation passed. Also, this little

legislative titan is so crooked he makes a corkscrew look straight.

In just the past 12 months, he's gotten three admonitions from the

house ethics committee for his violations of the rules. This is

amazing, for congress's standards of crookedness are so low that it

really takes an extraordinary act of arrogance to be charged, and the

committee is so toothless that it only gums a guilty party.

Still, Tom was so upset by the three gummings he got that he has now

imposed rules and membership changes on the ethics committee that

essentially reduces it to the wink-and-nod committee. One of his

handpicked new members is his close Texas buddy, Rep. Lamar Smith,

who––get this––is also a contributor to Tom's legal defense fund.

DeLay needs a legal defense fund because he's in danger of being

indicted in Texas for a political scheme that illegally laundered

corporate money into state legislative races. Two of his top aides

already have been indicted. Guess who helped raise money for Tom's

scheme? Lamar Smith!

But that's not all. DeLay faces new ethics embarrassments as a result

of his quid pro quo relationship with some sleazeball lobbyists and

for overseas junkets illegally financed by agents of a foreign

government. However, even though Tom brags that he's a take-charge

leader, he's not one to take any responsibility. He whines that

underlings did any dirty work in these cases, or that he's a sad

victim of political persecution.

If you think it's time for this walking scandal to be ousted from

national leadership, join the grassroots effort by Public Campaign

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