Example of government corruption

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A

Thu, 9 Jun 2005 16:53:03 -0700 (PDT)

Example of government corruption

 

 

 

Here's why we are in this mess. Our government has been corrupted by

big money and special interests. Yet, they won't any longer

investigate corruption. If anyone should be investigated it's Tom Delay:

 

 

 

ETHICS

DeLay Rescued by the Right

 

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has won a major victory. The

Washington Post reports that the House ethics committee " has shut

down...for the second time this year, " thanks to a conflict over staff

hiring initiated by ethics chairman (and former Abramoff associate)

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA). Now, the Post reports, " it could be months

-- and perhaps next year " before the panel investigates the activities

of DeLay or others accused of violating ethics restrictions. News of

the setback broke last night, just as DeLay was enjoying a

" high-dollar 'wine and cigar' fundraiser " for his political action

committee.

 

THE HAMMER RETOOLS: With the media distracted by the " nuclear option "

showdown, Tom DeLay has been reorganizing. In addition to raising

money for his legal defense fund for the first time in two months,

DeLay has hired a second attorney (apparently, DeLay only dislikes

lawyers when other people need them). It's all part of " DeLay's

emerging strategy, " says the Post, which is to " argue that the ethics

panel should not focus on him alone, but should conduct a broad

investigation of members' compliance with travel rules. "

 

DOC NEEDS AN EYE DOC: The ethics committee is paralyzed again because

chairman Doc Hastings insists that he be able to appoint his own

personal chief of staff, Ed Cassidy, to oversee committee operations.

Hastings needs to re-read the ethics committee rules. The rules

explicitly call for the hiring of " a professional, nonpartisan staff. "

This is no " dispute " -- just a transparent stall tactic.

 

HASTINGS MUST STEP DOWN: No wonder Delay says he " welcomes " a House

Ethics Committee investigation into the charges against him. The New

York Times yesterday revealed that chairman Hastings is closely tied

to the lobbying firm at the very heart of the ethics scandals

involving DeLay. The firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, was home to shady

lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who allegedly teamed up with DeLay in the

1990s in a scheme to help the Marianas Islands avoid U.S. labor laws.

(The Marianas Islands run brutal sweatshops where workers are " paid

barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage, " are forced to live behind

barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, " and report having been

forced into prostitution.) Hastings has received $14,000 from the firm

over the past 10 years; in 1996, he stood on the House floor

denouncing stricter labor laws for the Marianas shortly after a

meeting with Preston Gates. Today, Hastings' home-state paper, the

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, called on Hastings " to step back and turn

the DeLay investigation over to a congressionally appointed special

prosecutor. " We agree entirely.

 

WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS MORE CASH IN OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM: How's this

for gall? Even as " serious ethics charges involving influence-seeking

money are swirling around the House, " conservatives yesterday

introduced a bill that would " scrap post-Watergate restrictions on the

total amount of money individuals can donate and parties can spend on

candidates. " That means opening up the floodgates for cash to enter

into our political system (and further empowering the tiny few who can

afford to spend tens of thousands on political parties instead of

mortgages and college tuitions). Under today's rules, a person " can

donate $101,400 to federal candidates and parties in each two-year

election cycle. " Under the new rules, the limit would be more than

$1.1 million every two years.

 

With a congress like this who needs enemies?