With DeLay under fire, Democrats see opening

WASHINGTON -- Democrats are seeking to link the ethical questions that are swirling around House majority leader Tom DeLay to their broader critiques of the Bush administration and GOP leaders in Congress, using him to spark party fund-raising and election campaigns and putting a new layer of political pressure on the embattled Texas Republican.

The efforts to make DeLay an issue for Republicans nationwide come as DeLay's support within the GOP begins to show cracks. Some conservatives and President Bush want DeLay to stay on as majority leader, but at least two House and Senate Republicans want him held accountable and others running for reelection in tight races are keeping him at arm's length.

DeLay, meanwhile, seems confident that he can ride out the storm. In a closed-door GOP strategy meeting yesterday, he urged patience as attacks he says are politically motivated persist.

As the headlines against DeLay mounted, Democrats mostly kept a low profile, letting the ethics charges against him stand on their own. But their new strategy has begun to emerge.

Today, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada will hold a news conference at the Capitol to tie DeLay and the burgeoning scandals around him to GOP efforts to ban Senate filibusters of judges and remake Social Security. And DeLay is featured prominently in Democrats' fund-raising campaigns. One appeal refers to three potentially vulnerable Senate Republicans as ''mini-Tom DeLays."

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, said DeLay's troubles are contributing to the Republicans' image as a party that has overreached in its efforts to consolidate power. ''When the American people feel that someone is gaining too much power, when the American people feel that checks and balances are not being preserved, when the American people believe there is no scintilla of bipartisanship around here, they react," Schumer said.

In addition, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean blasted Republicans for gutting ethics rules that might have been used to discipline DeLay, and charged Republicans in the House with displaying an ''abuse of power that has become their trademark."

Conservatives have closed ranks around DeLay. The White House on Monday expressed support for DeLay, with spokesman Scott McClellan saying President Bush considers him a friend and wants him to stay on the job.

Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said yesterday that the attacks are predictable attempts to bring down a ''conservative Republican and strong leader from the South."

The Democrats ''will try to demonize him, but they need to be careful because that is a two-edged sword," said Lott, the former Senate Republican leader who was forced to resign under pressure after suggesting in 2002 that he supported segregation during the 1950s. ''When I go home or when I go to other states . . . they don't ask about Tom DeLay. They ask: 'What's going on in Iraq, how are we doing there? By the way, what are you guys going to do about the energy prices in America, what are you going to do to lower the price of gasoline?' "

But the first cracks in the Republican front supporting DeLay have appeared.

Senators Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island -- Republicans from states carried by Senator John F. Kerry in the 2004 presidential election -- have urged DeLay to directly address the ethics allegations. Over the weekend, Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut became the first Republican House member to say DeLay should step down. Another Connecticut Republican, Representative Rob Simmons, noted that he opposed DeLay's efforts to loosen House ethics rules.

Democrats say DeLay is a Republican liability because many GOP officeholders have ties to his leadership -- and his vast fund-raising network. Republican House members, many of whom face strong Democratic challengers in midterm elections, had voted overwhelming for DeLay to become majority leader.

''If the idea starts to crystallize that there's an unethical Republican Congress with an agenda to put middle-class families last, Republicans all over the country are going to pay at the ballot box next November," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

DeLay, an influential, 11th-term Republican who represents suburban Houston, has faced a barrage of ethical questions of late. He was admonished by the House ethics committee three times last year for transgressions that included creating the appearance of giving special access to donors and seeking to use a federal agency to track down Texas legislators who were hiding out to stop DeLay's redistricting plan.

Three DeLay associates have been indicted in connection with fund-raising activities involving a political action committee that DeLay controls. Several federal agencies and Senate committees are investigating two other of the congressman's associates in connection with lobbying efforts involving Indian tribes and casino gambling.

Lately, DeLay has faced fresh rounds of questions regarding foreign trips that may have been funded by foreign entities, a violation of House ethics rules. In addition, his campaign and political action committees have paid his wife and daughter more than $500,000 since 2001, a disclosure that Democrats hope will contribute to a public image of DeLay using his post for personal gain.