If nothing else, you have to give Travis County Democrats credit
for thinking big, like real Texans. Apparently undaunted that the
assault on President Bush’s National Guard service blew up in their
faces, they are now trying to bring down House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay.
All roads in the CBS memo scandal traverse Travis County. Dan
Rather was the special guest at a 2001 fundraiser for the Travis
County Democratic Party, and his daughter is active in the
organization. Former National Guardsman Bill Burkett, the unstable
Bush-baiter, who now claims he was the source of the forged
documents, is represented (and many believe directed) by David Van
Os, the former Travis County Democratic Party chairman.
Now Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat
with a history of bringing politically motivated indictments, has
indicted three DeLay aides who ran a political action committee
called Texans for a Republican Majority PAC. Perhaps recognizing
that indicting DeLay himself 41 days before an election would be
just too transparent, Earle instead indicted the three underlings
for allegedly directing corporate contributions to Texas
legislative candidates in 2002.
At stake in 2002 was control of the Texas legislature, which was
to redraw congressional district lines. Corporate contributions to
legislative candidates are illegal in Texas. The DeLay aides stand
accused of violating that prohibition, along with eight companies
like Sears Roebuck that provided the funds. The corporate money,
however, never went to the candidates. Instead, it went to a much
larger fund for state elections controlled by the Republican
National Committee in Washington. That committee made contributions
to Texas legislative candidates, constituting what Earle now
charges is “money laundering.”
The only problem is that similar transactions are conducted by
both parties in many states, including Texas. In fact, on October
31, 2002, the Texas Democratic Party sent the Democratic National
Committee (DNC) $75,000, and on the same day, the DNC sent the
Texas Democratic Party $75,000. On July 19, 2001, the Texas
Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000 and, again on the same day,
the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000. On June 8, 2001,
the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000. That very same
day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000.
EARLE’S LAST FORAY INTO politicized prosecution in 1993 turned into
a huge embarrassment when he went after Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison (R-TX), who was then Texas Treasurer. Earle made a series
of trumped-up charges, including that the demure Hutchison had
physically assaulted an employee. Earle dropped the case during the
trial.
DeLay has been the target of previous legal harassment. Four
years ago, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, under
the chairmanship of Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), filed a lawsuit
under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
RICO was designed as a tool against organized crime, but Kennedy
argued that DeLay’s relationships with Washington lobbyists
amounted to “extortion.” Even some liberal commentators criticized
the suit as frivolous. It was eventually thrown out.
This year, lame duck Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX), who lost a March
primary, filed a Complaint with the House Ethics Committee, citing
many of the same circumstances in the Earle indictments. For good
measure, Bell echoed Kennedy’s “extortion” allegations and claimed
DeLay “misused” his office by asking the Federal Aviation
Administration and Justice Department to help find Texas
legislators who fled to Oklahoma to deny Republicans a quorum
needed to pass the redistricting plan. Since Bell had, in effect,
been redistricted out of his seat, his allegations were colored,
but did not stop the media from repeating them.
IRONICALLY, DELAY’S DEMOCRATIC counterpart in the House, Nancy
Pelosi, has been involved in wholesale and indisputable election
law violations, but has been absent from the headlines. Pelosi is a
champion of what is called “campaign finance reform.” The clearest
and most fundamental tenet of current election law is the
limitation of contributions. Yet, Pelosi’s committees have engaged
in a massive circumvention of the limitation, even as Pelosi was a
key player in passing additional “reform” measures such as
McCain-Feingold.
Earlier this year, the Federal Election Commission fined two
so-called leadership PACs associated with Pelosi in response to a
Complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center. The purpose of
leadership PACs is to make contributions to the campaigns of other
Congressional candidates. House and Senate Leaders are allowed one
leadership PAC in addition to their own campaign committee.
Pelosi set up two. Her second PAC made $5,000 contributions to
thirty-six campaigns that had already received the $5,000 maximum
from the first. The treasurer of both PACs candidly admitted that
the “main reason” for setting up the second PAC was to “give twice
as much (sic) hard dollars.”
Some of the enmity directed at DeLay results from his success in
the Texas redistricting. It is rank hypocrisy to suggest that his
actions are unprecedented or inappropriate. After all, the King of
Redistricting is still the late Democratic Rep. Phil Burton of
California. In a 2003 tribute, Pelosi gushed, “his true artistry
was displayed when it came to redistricting. One press account
described it as ‘Phil Burton’s contribution to modern art.’ For
almost three decades, he painted the political landscape of
Californians in the House from his palette.”
