Ethics Panel Again Rebukes DeLay
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WASHINGTON – The House ethics committee unanimously concluded yesterday that Majority Leader Tom DeLay appeared to link political donations to a legislative favor and improperly persuaded American aviation authorities to intervene in a Texas political dispute.
The committee’s findings were an extraordinary second rebuke in six days for one of the nation’s most partisan political leaders and most successful money-raisers. The Texas Republican has long been known in the Capitol as “The Hammer.”
The committee of five Democrats and five Republicans reached no conclusions on an allegation that Mr. De-Lay violated Texas campaign finance rules. Instead, the panel delayed action pending an investigation by state authorities. Three DeLay associates were indicted last month in that probe.
Mr. DeLay said he considered the complaint against him dismissed, but accepted the committee’s findings.
“For years, Democrats have hurled relentless personal attacks at me, hoping to tie my hands and smear my name. All have fallen short, not because of insufficient venom, but because of insufficient merit.”
The panel wrote Mr. DeLay that his conduct “created an appearance” of favoritism when he mingled at a 2003 golf outing with an energy company’s executives, just days after they contributed to a political organization associated with Mr. DeLay. The Kansas firm, Westar Energy, was seeking help with legislation then at a critical stage of House-Senate negotiations.
Mr. DeLay also raised “serious concerns” by contacting the Federal Aviation Administration to help locate Democratic lawmakers, who were fleeing Texas in an effort to thwart state Republican legislators from passing a DeLay-engineered redistricting plan.
Mr. DeLay’s attorney, former Republican congressman Ed Bethune, said, “There are no charges pending against Tom DeLay anywhere by anybody.”
Mr. DeLay told the committee – in explaining his conduct – that he was working to advance his party’s legislative agenda, but that didn’t sway the panel.