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April 01, 2006
Some Things Just Don't Blow Over
It has been interesting to watch the public posturing of late from team Tom DeLay. Fresh off an underwhelming 62% showing in the GOP primary -- remember, he's used to getting 80% or better, and the fact that nearly 40% of his core Republican base abandoned him is not good news, no matter how they spin it -- Congressman DeLay's media strategy over the last month or so has been to push his legal troubles into the background and confidently declare he will move past them unscathed. It is a perfectly understandable strategy under the circumstances.
This week, however, saw a flurry of stories which complicate such a strategy, to say the least. It started last Sunday with a lengthy piece by R. Jeffrey Smith in the Washington Post, detailing how former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham enriched himself (and made regular payments to DeLay's wife) under the guise of the U.S. Family Network, a bogus grassroots lobbying organization principally funded by Washington D.C.'s current Typhoid Mary -- Jack Abramoff.
Next came word that the Congressman's license to carry a concealed handgun in Texas had been revoked, pending the outcome of his felony indictment, which is Texas law. Ouch.
On Wednesday, the aforementioned Jack Abramoff, once the most powerful lobbyist in Washington and one of Congressman DeLay's "dearest friends", was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of the SunCruz Casinos shipping line. Abramoff, who apparently is not finished singing to federal prosecutors in a host of other investigations, will remain free for 90 days until his song is over. What he has offered the feds on Mr. DeLay is not yet clear, but won't likely well serve the Congressman's legal or political standing.
Finally, Mr. DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, pled guilty yesterday to illegally conspiring with Jack Abramoff (there he is again) to "corrupt public officials and defraud Abramoff's clients", while on DeLay's Congressional staff. Rudy is also cooperating with federal investigators in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.
Each of these events, taken separately, undermines Mr. DeLay's protestations of his own innocence and of the "political witch hunt" against him. Together they darken and intensify the storm clouds of illegality and unethical behavior that continue to swirl around him. Much as Congressman DeLay might wish, some things just don't blow over.
Posted by houtopia at April 1, 2006 11:16 AM