Houston Democrats

A Democracy 21 Report

House Majority Leader DeLay's Ethics Problems: The Ethics Rules and Issues that Need to Be Addressed by the House Ethics Committee

The House Ethics Committee is expected shortly to begin an inquiry into the ethics issues that have been raised concerning House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

There are a number of questions the Ethics Committee will need to investigate to determine whether Representative DeLay has violated House ethics rules and standards. These ethics questions are discussed in Part 1 below and include the following:

• Did Representative DeLay or his agents solicit any trips, or portions of any trips, or the arrangements for any trips, in violation of the House ethics rule banning Members from soliciting gifts, including trips and travel-related expenses?

• Did Representative DeLay receive reimbursements for recreational activities, or reimbursements in excessive amounts for travel-related expenses, in violation of House ethics rules that prohibit reimbursements for recreational activities and require reimbursements for travel-related expenses to be "necessary" and "reasonable"?

• Did a registered lobbyist pay for any portion of DeLay's trips, in violation of House ethics rules, and did DeLay or his agents know, or should they have known, that a lobbyist was helping to finance his trips?

• Did an agent of a foreign principal pay for any portion of DeLay's trips, in violation of House ethics rules, and did DeLay or his agents know, or should they have known, that a foreign agent was helping to finance his trips?

• Did Representative DeLay fail to disclose the actual sources of funding for his trips, as required by the House ethics rules?

• Did those who paid for the DeLay trips meet the ethics rules requirement that they have a "direct and immediate relationship" with the "event or location" of the trips, and did DeLay or his agents know, or should they have known, whether they did?

• Did Representative DeLay's trips or any other financial benefits DeLay or his projects received affect his official actions, or create an appearance of improper action in violation of House ethics rules?

• Did DeLay receive trips, financial benefits, fundraising assistance or contributions from registered lobbyists, and make his office as a Representative and a House leader available to such lobbyists to use in obtaining and assisting clients, in violation of the House ethics standard that Members shall conduct themselves "at all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives?"

Ok Ethics Committee. No excuses or procrastination now. Someone else has already done the initial part of your work, now let's get some straight answers.

On another note...
Check out this article from "Come and Take It."

Tom DeLay: "I was mistreating my wife and daughter." Until He Found Dobson...

And other interesting tidbits about Tom DeLay's family life in this old New York Times profile from 1999. Apparently, DeLay is or was estranged from his widowed mother and his father was, in his own words "a boisterous, domineering alcoholic." You know, the same father that Tom DeLay decided to pull the plug on in Terri Schaivo fashion? So, let me get this straight, Tom DeLay has a traumatic family life and he therefore lashes out at other people with family problems.

Continue reading the article here.