Part-Time Pundit: MoveOn Watch: Investigate DeLay! But only DeLay!

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May 11, 2005

MoveOn Watch: Investigate DeLay! But only DeLay!

Here's a list of congresspeople that have committed or apparently committed the same thing DeLay has done:

Rep. Jim Clyburn
Rep. Bennie Thompson - Both on the same trip as DeLay
Sen. Gordon Smith
Sen. Don Nickles
Rep. Howard Coble
Rep. Harold Rogers
Rep. Clay Shaw
Rep. Bill Thomas
Rep. Neil Abercrombie
Rep. Norm Dicks
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Sen. Hillary Clinton who's fundraiser crimes are in trial now
List goes on.

(Read some of it here)

But MoveOn is apparently only concerned with Tom DeLay's ethical lapses... As usual, it isn't the ethics that are the real udnerlying concern, but it is a convenient club to knock down someone they can't defeat in elections. If they cared about elections they could start by demanding resignations from Clyborn and Thompson who were on the very same trip as DeLay and paid for by the very same Abramoff credit card. Call your MoveOn representatives...

====================

Report Card
Rep. Timothy Johnson's Connections to Tom DeLay

Accepted $25,000
from Tom DeLay's PAC

Voted 82.98%
of the time with DeLay
(980 of 1,181 votes)

Tell Rep. Johnson,
"Fire Tom DeLay!"

sign the petition

Data in the "Report Card" was compiled by Public Campaign Action Fund for its DeLay Rankings at http://www.InDeLaysPocket.com

Dear MoveOn member,

A month ago it looked like the scandals surrounding Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay couldn't get any worse. Newspapers were breaking new stories every week about lobbyist-paid golf trips, the $500,000 paid from DeLay's political coffers to his family, and back-room deals DeLay was cutting to save his hide.

Then, it got worse.

The latest scandal connects DeLay to sweatshops in the Mariana Islands making apparel with "Made in the USA" labeling while avoiding U.S. labor laws — exploiting Chinese immigrant labor. But a growing number of Republicans are going mute on DeLay's ethical abuses. They're afraid of far-right organizations — who are staunch DeLay supporters — and of retribution from DeLay himself.

The thing that will push Tom DeLay out of his leadership role is a public outcry and pressure on the Republicans who gave him that office. That's where you come in. In a few weeks, we're going to organize events across the nation to deliver our petition to fire Tom DeLay to the Republicans who still back him — either Republicans in Congress or the local Republican Party.

Take a moment to sign it now — the more signatures we can deliver Rep. Johnson, the more likely he is to think twice about DeLay's leadership.

[snip link]

The tangled web of backslapping relationships between DeLay, other Republicans, and lobbyists needs to be exposed to the light. So we've taken the best information out there on the connections between Republican members of Congress and Rep. Tom DeLay and we're sending it to you as your own personal "Report Card on Rep. Johnson" (see right).

After you read the report card please sign our petition and forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues. This is exactly the sort of detailed information they're looking for and will find useful.

So far, nearly 300,000 of us have signed a petition to Congress urging them to fire Tom DeLay as Majority Leader. We want to collect at least 500,000 petition signatures before the beginning of June when Congress returns home for a week.

During the first week in June MoveOn members will deliver the petition to Republican members of Congress while they're home. If you live in a Democratic district, we will deliver the petition to the local Republican Party headquarters. You can volunteer to get involved in the petition delivery when you sign the petition.

Please take the time now to sign our petition urging Congress to fire Tom DeLay as majority leader.

[snip link]

We need to turn the heat up on representatives about their association with DeLay. As absurd as it sounds, many Republicans are actually gathering later this week at a banquet to honor DeLay. Rep. Johnson might be one of them.

Among his offenses, Tom Delay:

* Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed

* Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules

* Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

* Helped sweatshops in the Mariana Islands at the behest of a lobbyist.

* Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor

* Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare

* Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law

* Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas

* Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention

* Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans

* Stacked the House Ethics Committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund

* Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him

* Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel

* Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"

(See postscript below for a link to citations.)

As Majority Leader, DeLay is the second-ranking leader in the House of Representatives. He is responsible for developing the Republican issue agenda and sets the legislative schedule by selecting which bills the House will consider.

The ranks of government contractors and lobbyists who depend on this legislative authority have slathered DeLay, his cronies and related organizations with millions of dollars.

Please sign our petition today urging Congress to fire Tom Delay!

[snip link]

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Wes, Adam, Laura and the MoveOn PAC Team
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005

P.S. Here is a link to the brief that we used to document DeLay's abuses. It includes links to news reports with the specific background on each of the assertions we make above. "DeLay's Dirty Dozen" from the American Progress Action Fund http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=430

P.P.S. Our work in this campaign is inspired by a number of organizations who have taken the lead.

One of the best resources for information on the Tom DeLay scandals and how other members of Congress are connected to it is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee run by Rep. Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois. Visit http://www.houseofscandal.org and join their e-mail list for alerts on how to clean up Congress.

Check out the DeLay Rankings from the Public Campaign Action Fund. http://www.indelayspocket.com/

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington drafted the ethics complaint against DeLay, who then tried to have them held in contempt of Congress. http://www.citizensforethics.org/

You can make a contribution to support MoveOn PAC's work on this and other issues by clicking on the link below. https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/donate.html

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Posted by John Bambenek at May 11, 2005 1:55 PM