Democrats call on DeLay to step down
WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders yesterday called on Republican Tom DeLay to step down as majority leader after the powerful Texan was rebuked two times in the last week by the House ethics committee. DeLay brushed aside the rebukes and the Democratic demands.
"The ethical cloud that has been hanging over the Capitol has burst," said House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, noting that Wednesday night's announcement by the ethics committee marks the third admonishment of DeLay by his colleagues this autumn.
"This is a pattern of unethical behavior by a man determined to win at any cost," she added. "The record has indicated that he will abuse power whenever he deems necessary."
DeLay defended himself against what he and Republican loyalists called a politically-motivated attempt to break the GOP's strong control of the House.
"I am very pleased that the ethics committee and these honorable people who serve on the ethics committee have dismissed the frivolous charges brought against me," DeLay said yesterday.
Republicans rallied around their leader, downplaying the ethics committee rebukes and accusing Democrats of nasty politics. "Tom DeLay is a good man," House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, said in a statement. "He fights hard for what he believes, but he has never put personal interests ahead of the best interests of the country."
Representative Henry Bonilla, Republican of Texas, called the attacks on DeLay "a political witch hunt. When we begin punishing people for partisan purposes rather than actions it is a slippery slope in a free society."
The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- evenly split between Democrats and Republicans -- voted unanimously late Wednesday night to rebuke DeLay for appearing to give special access to campaign donors with an interest in energy legislation. The panel also cited DeLay for calling the Federal Aviation Administration to track down a plane Texas Democrats were using to avoid voting on a Republican redistricting plan.
Late last week, the panel admonished DeLay for offering to endorse the candidacy of a congressman's son in exchange for the congressman's critical vote on the Medicare prescription drug package.
In its statement this week, the ethics panel took no action on another complaint, that DeLay laundered corporate campaign contributions through a political action committee he founded to aid Texas Republican legislative races. Several DeLay associates have been indicted in Texas for wrongdoing in that case, but DeLay has not been interviewed by authorities or charged in the matter, which prosecutors say is still being investigated.
Citizen watchdog groups also called on DeLay yesterday to step down, and Judicial Watch, a self-described conservative organization, surprised even DeLay foes yesterday by suggesting that he leave the House. "Mr. DeLay has repeatedly abused the public trust, and this extraordinary ethics committee rebuke raises the question as to whether he should remain in Congress. He ought to consider retiring to private life," said the group's president, Tom Fitton.
The episode cast a dark cloud on a Congress that is set to recess today for the rest of the election season without having passed critical legislation, including spending bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Morning floor discussions in both the House and Senate have become incendiary debate forums, with lawmakers in both parties spending time criticizing President Bush or Democratic challenger John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.
DeLay, who presides over an unusually well-disciplined GOP majority, did not appear to be in danger yesterday of losing his job. No House Republican has yet publicly suggested DeLay should step down as leader.
But analysts and lawmakers said DeLay's future is still uncertain. Texas investigators are looking into allegations that DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC illegally collected money from corporations and funneled the cash to help Republican legislative candidates. Republicans ended up taking control of the Texas Legislature and re-drew congressional district lines such that the GOP may gain as many as five US House seats next month.
Representative Chris Bell, a Texas Democrat who lost his primary in one of the newly-drawn districts and who has filed an ethics committee complaint against DeLay, said his foe may still face penalties from his colleagues or from prosecutors. 