Conason: It's a family affair (DeLay)

[kskiska]

Tom DeLay's payouts to friends and family are nothing new -- for nearly a decade he's truly been his brother Randy's keeper.

(snip)

Wednesday, in the latest episode, reporters reopened the files on the Texan's family, with a front-page New York Times examination of $500,000 in payments from DeLay's political and "charitable" groups to his wife, Christine, and his daughter Dani DeLay Ferro during the past four years. His office explained that the missus, who stays home in Sugar Land, Texas, "provides big picture, long-term strategic guidance and helps with personnel decisions." (Isn't that special?)

Such high-dollar family values bring the DeLay saga full circle -- all the way back to the original ethics case against the majority leader brought by the Congressional Accountability Project, a watchdog group affiliated with Ralph Nader. Nine years ago, the watchdog group filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee that focused on the activities of DeLay's younger brother Randy. A failed restaurateur and attorney who had filed for bankruptcy in 1992, Randy's fortunes brightened considerably after Tom rose to the House leadership -- and Randy started handing out business cards as a Washington lobbyist.

For the past several years, after drawing unwanted attention to the DeLay family's business methods, Randy DeLay has kept his head down -- but kept doing business exactly the same way.

(snip)

While the majority leader and his brother both escaped any official sanction for these gross examples of influence peddling, Tom realized that Randy had become an embarrassment. He declared that his little brother had become persona non grata in his office. Of course, he added, Randy had never had any influence over him anyway.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/04/08/delay_bro/index.html

[Erika]

1. DeLay is so dirty

Why doesn't he just resign.

[Skittles]

5. SOP for republicans, Erika

SOP

[colonel odis]

6. he doesn't resign because in his heart he feels like he's done nothing

wrong.

republicans consider themselves above reproach, above ethics, above the law. scandals and accountability are for others, not the party that thinks it's god's representative on earth.

if the day comes when delay becomes too big a political liability for the republicans, i'd look for him to leave kicking and screaming, clinging to his desk or the doorway. then he'll decry the evil opposition who had it in for him all along, he the humble servant of god.

these people are either incredibly naive and stupid or they really think we are. regardless, if delay weren't a wealthy congressman, he'd be one of those neighbors or smalltime businessmen you roll your eyes over. a loser who's always got an angle, a scheme, or an amway distributorship to sell.

fortunately for him, and unfortunately for us, he had the smarts and lack of morality to get elected to congress. unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, he's going to leave congress in a scandal that will once again demonstrate that republicans are pretty much scum of the earth.

[really-looney]

2. Republican Family Values

Take care of former staff members and other Lobbyists but cut your brother off sat the Knees. Makes sense to me. What an asshole

[DUgosh]

3. Randy never had influence on Tommy????

What about Randy's tantrum to keep Texas brewed Pearl Beer and Lone Star at the Texas fundraisers??? and Tom leaning towards Coors brewed in Colorado??? As I recall Randy won that debate.

[alarimer]

4. Corpus Christi has had numerous dealings with Randy D.

The city somehow found money to pay him. Big scanal around here involving County Judge Terry Shamsie and Rep. Ortiz. They are Dems but they are tainted with the Delay brush too. Packery Channel is a real boondoggle.

From the article:

" In Brownsville, the local navigation district hired him to obtain millions in federal funding for deepening river channels. According to the Caller-Times daily newspaper, Randy DeLay has been hired to promote Brownsville's Brazos Island Harbor and the Corpus Christi Packery Channel dredging projects, as well as a railway-truck bridge to Mexico and other projects. The paper notes that Tom DeLay has weighed in to push the same projects. Last February, the Regional Transportation Authority in Corpus Christi also found $120,000 in its strapped budget to hire Randy. Again, some local officials objected, wondering why they had to hire him when other lobbyists are already on the payroll. But that contract went through anyway."

more...

"In Nueces County last year, officials proposed to award Randy DeLay a lucrative contract to protect the region's military bases from being shut down by the Pentagon. He would have shared that one-year contract, worth $1.2 million, with former Bush aide and Federal Emergency Management Administration director Joe Allbaugh. (The two lobbyists said they "wanted to help Nueces County protect its bases from the latest round of closings as a way to give back to Texas." Isn't that special, too?)"

Ortiz endorsed this scheme too, which fell through. I wish we could get rid of him too.