Rove: White House 'strongly' behind DeLay Bush aide says embattled House majority leader 'a close ally' Monday, April 18, 2005 Posted: 9:31 PM EDT (0131 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House stands "strongly" behind Tom DeLay amid ethical questions over the House majority leader's fund- raising and overseas trips, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said Monday. Rove, the strategist who ran President Bush's two presidential campaigns, said DeLay, a Texas Republican, has been the target of partisan attacks by "desperate" Democrats. "Tom DeLay is going to continue to be a strong and effective majority leader for the Republicans in the House," he said on CNN's "Inside Politics." Though at least two congressmen have suggested DeLay should give up his leadership post until ethics questions are resolved, GOP leaders have backed the majority leader. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Sunday the White House needed to speak up on DeLay's behalf. "I do think the White House needs to remember that people who fight hard for you as a candidate and for your issues as a president deserve your support," the Republican from Mississippi said on ABC's "This Week." Bush said last week that he looked forward to working with DeLay, but Lott told ABC that "I wish it had been more, frankly." (Full story) Lott was pushed out of the GOP leadership after he told a 2002 birthday gathering for former Sen. Strom Thurmond that the United States would have avoided "all these problems" if Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid had succeeded. "We strongly support Tom DeLay. He's a good man, a close ally of this administration," Rove said in a rare television interview. Newspaper articles have said that DeLay went on overseas trips paid for by lobbyists. That would be a violation of House rules if proved to be true. The majority leader says he has done nothing improper and told CNN earlier this month that he was the target of a "liberal media" smear campaign. (Full story) DeLay was admonished three times by the House ethics committee in 2004. Three of his associates have been indicted in Texas on charges they illegally raised money from corporations for that state's 2002 legislative elections. Eight companies also have been indicted in the probe, although three have come to terms with the prosecutor. DeLay may also be a target of that probe, but he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. He claims the Austin-based Democratic prosecutor is partisan. He denies any violations of law or ethics. In December, the House Republican Conference passed a rule that would allow leaders to continue to hold leadership posts in the chamber while under indictment. The change, which became known as the "DeLay Rule," was reversed the following month after heavy criticism. Rove said he was confident the questions surrounding DeLay would be "resolved to everybody's satisfaction" by the House ethics committee. But Democrats have accused DeLay's supporters in the House Republican Caucus of rewriting the committee's ground rules to make it more difficult to conduct an investigation. According to the new rule, the committee can launch an investigation only if a majority of the members supports the idea. Given that the 10-member panel is evenly divided between the parties, that would require at least one Republican member to agree to investigate DeLay. Democrats have not agreed to the new rule, preventing the committee from conducting business. At the same time, they have accused DeLay and other Republicans of trying to place themselves above the law. (Full story) Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Republicans had "neutered" the committee. "The issue here is the abuse of power -- and it's not just Tom DeLay," said Hoyer, the House Democratic whip. "It's Republican abuse of power. It's abuse of power in the House rules. It's abuse of power in the ethics process." Rove said Democrats are attacking DeLay because they have no ideas of their own. "I think they're just desperate," he said. "They're not offering ideas in the debate, they're not being constructive, and so some of their members are taking potshots at Tom DeLay." CNN's John King contributed to this report.
Just to fend off the wave of 'Ronnie Earle is a partisan hack' charges... Ronnie Earle has prosecuted more Dems than Republicans. ___________ I must say this is... GREAT NEWS
this kinda sucks. i rather have this whole crap hang around him so we can use it. with him indicted he inevtably has to step down (as he did) and its harder for us to blame the entire party.
Before you begin to believe the Republican spin that this is partisan driven because Ronnie Earle is a Democrat, read this 2003 editorial from the Chronicle: http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=571&pf=1 Earle prosecutes Democrats and Republicans alike Editorial: March 17, 2003 Until recent years, Democrats controlled the Texas Legislature, held most statewide offices and caused the big scandals. Now the situation is reversed, but some Republicans want their scandals to be exempt from investigation. During his long tenure, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans. The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts. Furthermore, the argument that Earle should drop the investigation because of its high cost ill becomes a political party that supported the spending of tens of millions of dollars to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton's failed real estate investment in Arkansas, with little result. Earle is investigating whether state Rep. Tom Craddick, a Republican, broke the rules in his race to become speaker of the Texas House. That investigation grew out of another begun to determine whether the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority illegally used corporate donations to influence Texas House races. The whole scandal came to light after the TAB bragged that it had used corporate donations to gain a Republican majority in the House. As proof of his evenhandedness, Earle has subpoenaed the records of former House Speaker Pete Laney, a Democrat, after Craddick's defenders suggested that Laney had behaved similarly. A spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas called Earle's investigation frivolous. That charge is rebutted by the impressive legal talent hired to represent the targets of the probe. Earle himself perhaps put the matter best: "This is not about Democrats and Republicans. It is about cops and robbers. This is an investigation of a crime.
RMTex -- as i heard this news and posted it here, i thought of you first! i just imagined you with a big smile on your face! go 'stros!
So let's see. House Majority Leader Indicted for Criminal Conspiracy. Senate Majority Leader the target of an increasingly serious probe of potential insider trading. Rumors of October Rove indictment in the Plame case. Is this a problem yet?
DeLay will be stepping aside from his role as House majority leader. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/28/delay.investigation.ap/index.html
I'll smile when he is convicted, but this is a good start. Like I said before, if Sugarland re-elects this scumbag after all of this (ethics violations plus the indictments), the city of Sugarland should be fenced off from the rest of Houston and the residents of Sugarland should not be allowed to interact with the rest of us. I'll also smile on Friday night after the Stros clinch the NLWC.
And he was acquitted, because even though Republicans had the balls to level impeachment charges, they didn't have the case to convict him. If I recall correctly, the last Republican President who was impeached, resigned because his conviction on the charges was imminent. And, also if I recall correctly, several of this Republican President's cabinet members served prison time for their misdeeds. A wee bit of a difference, eh sexy-texxy?
Did anyone here Delay say this was one of the most baseless indictments in the history of the United States? Delay is such a clown it is unbelievable. Who does he think he is?
Nixon resigned before articles of impeachment made it to the House floor so he wasn't impeached. If I recall correctly the only two presidents to be impeached have been Democrats.
And now, for your further amusement.... Jack Abramoff, and perhaps DeLay, have been tied to organized crime, specifically the Gambino family. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700980. html 3 Charged in Killing Of Fla. Businessman Boulis Slain After 2000 Abramoff Deal By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Page A03 Fort Lauderdale police said yesterday that they charged three men in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of a Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was killed on a Fort Lauderdale street on Feb. 6, 2001. Two of the three men charged had been hired as consultants by Adam Kidan, one of Abramoff's partners in the SunCruz Casinos venture. Anthony Moscatiello, 67, identified by authorities as a former bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family, was arrested Monday night in Queens, N.Y. Anthony Ferrari, 48, was arrested in Miami Beach. Both were charged with murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. James Fiorillo, 28, was arrested in Palm Coast, Fla., yesterday and charged with murder and conspiracy. Boulis, millionaire founder of the Miami Subs sandwich chain, sold SunCruz to Abramoff and Kidan in September 2000, at a time when Abramoff was one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists. Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last month on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with a $60 million loan they obtained to purchase the casino company. Abramoff is at the center of a federal investigation into lobbying for Indian tribes and influence-peddling in Washington. Abramoff used contacts with GOP Reps. Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Robert W. Ney (Ohio) and their staffs as he worked to land the SunCruz deal, interviews and court records show. The indictment in the Boulis slaying remained under seal yesterday, and authorities declined to disclose details of the charges against the defendants. Michael D. Becker, a Miami lawyer who has represented the men in other matters, said yesterday that he has not spoken to them yet. Attorneys for Kidan and Abramoff said their clients have no knowledge about who killed Boulis. The two men were on a business trip abroad the night Boulis was shot. "Adam has cooperated with police right from the beginning. He's never been told he is a subject or a target," said Kidan's attorney, Martin Jaffe. Fort Lauderdale police say they have long been interested in interviewing Abramoff, but he has repeatedly begged off, citing scheduling difficulties. Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, said after the fraud indictment that his client knows nothing about the slaying but would be willing to meet with detectives. He said he had no comment on the murder charges. Abramoff and Kidan have been friends since their days as College Republicans in Washington. Kidan, of New York, owned the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in the District until it filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s. Their third partner in the SunCruz deal was Reagan administration official Ben Waldman. Dealings between Boulis and the Abramoff group were often tense. At key points in the negotiations, Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record -- first sharply criticizing Boulis and later praising the new ownership under Kidan. Ney later said he had been unaware of Kidan's background. Also during the negotiations, Abramoff brought a lender he was trying to impress to hobnob with DeLay in Abramoff's FedEx Field skybox at a Redskins-Cowboys game. DeLay has said he does not remember meeting the lender. After the sale, the friction led to a December 2000 fistfight between Kidan and Boulis, who had remained as a minority partner. Kidan told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Boulis had said, "I'm not going to sue you, I'm going to kill you." Kidan said that SunCruz thereafter barred Boulis from its casino boats. Homicide detectives have been investigating payments made to Moscatiello, his daughter and Ferrari in the months before the killing. SunCruz paid $145,000 to Moscatiello and his daughter for catering, consulting and "site inspections," Kidan said in a 2001 civil court deposition. There is no evidence that food or drink was provided or that any consulting documents were prepared, according to court documents. The checks to Jennifer Moscatiello were made at Anthony Moscatiello's instruction, although his daughter provided no services for the money, Kidan said in his deposition. Moscatiello was indicted on federal heroin-trafficking charges in 1983 along with Gene Gotti, brother of John Gotti, then head of the Gambino family. Gene Gotti and several others were sent to prison, but the charges against Moscatiello were later dropped. Kidan met Moscatiello in 1990 while he was running New York City's Best Bagels in the Hamptons and Moscatiello was running a catering hall. Moscatiello provided Kidan advice on running the business. Kidan said in a deposition that he was unaware of Moscatiello's 1983 indictment or his affiliations with the Gottis. SunCruz also paid a company called Moon Over Miami Beach Inc. $95,000 for surveillance services in 2001. Ferrari is a principal in Moon Over Miami Beach. Ferrari and several associates also reportedly received $10,000 in SunCruz casino chips. Kidan has denied that the SunCruz payments to Moscatiello and Ferrari had anything to do with the slaying. In 2001, he told the Miami Herald: "If I'm going to pay to have Gus killed, am I going to be writing checks to the killers? I don't think so. Why would I leave a paper trail?" Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy relating to their $147.5 million SunCruz purchase. Prosecutors alleged that Abramoff and Kidan faked a wire transfer of $23 million -- the down payment they had agreed to put into the deal for the day-cruise casino boats. In civil filings in the bankruptcy of SunCruz, Abramoff blamed Kidan for defrauding lenders. Kidan has said the lenders were aware that the buyers were not actually putting up the $23 million in cash for the purchase. Their trial is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Tom Delay On the refugees of Hurricane Katrina: ""Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" - As reported in the Washington Post [2005 September 10] [1] On the State of Israel: "My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism." [2004 August 31] "If Israel falls to the terrorists, the entire free world will tremble. To forsake Israel now would be tantamount to forsaking Great Britain in 1940. It is unthinkable, and it is unthinkable because the world wants to know if we believe freedom is worth fighting for." [2004 August 31] On the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): "The EPA, the Gestapo of government, pure and simply has been one of the major claw-hooks that the government maintains on the backs of our constituents." - As reported in the AP [1995 July 29] On Newt Gingrich: "Newt Gingrich is an incredible leader. He is a leader of our time, and he's going to lead us into the future. And we're going to accomplish the things that we've all dreamed of." - As reported from "Late Edition" on CNN [4/6/97] On the federal government: "I am the federal government." - DeLay was responding to a government employee who tried to prevent him from smoking on government property. As reported in the New York Times [2003 June 13] "You know, the Democrats want to balance the budget by raising spending and raising taxes. The Soviet Union had a balanced budget." Meet the Press, 12/22/2003 "...I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution." - From "Talk Back Live" on CNN [1995 December 19] On the working poor: "Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." - From the Congressional Record, H3706 [1996 April 23] On war: "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." - From a speech made to bankers [3/12/03] On the International Criminal Court: "Kofi Annan's kangaroo court...a clear and present danger to the war on terrorism and Americans fighting it all over the world." - AP 2004 July 16[2] On the role of women in the home: "I have seen these liberal psychologists and sociologists talk about there is no need for the man in the family. The woman can't take care of it. A woman can't take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability." - From a radio interview. His wife, Christine DeLay quickly asked to "edit this out," then turned to Tom and said: "This is not a good thing for you to be saying." On Bipartisanship: "We have a small faction, and they are a minority, who believe they are there to govern. Then there is the majority of us who believe that indeed we are there to govern but more importantly we are there to be an opposition to the Democratic philosophy and the only way to do that is through confrontation." - From the Houston Chronicle [4/14/91] On Toxins: "It's never been proven that air toxics [sic] are hazardous to people." - From the Houston Chronicle [10/27/90] On checks and balances: "The judges need to be intimidated. They need to uphold the Constitution. (If they don't behave) we're going to go after them in a big way." - From the Washington Post [9/14/97] Retrieved from "http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay"
At least Nixon had the dignity to step down realizing he was wrong in his actions (but lets not mention the fact it was in retalliation for the Dems doing the exact same thing to hiim, only they decided to leak it to the press) before impeachment, sparing the country further embarrasement. Unlike Slick Willie who didn't think committing adultery was a bad thing for a person let alone the President of the USA and then not only committed purgery but thanks to him now its considered socially acceptable for young girls in middle school and high school to give boys oral sex and have it not considered a bad thing. Yeah thats a lot better.... On the Tom Delay issue: What a freakin' witch hunt....same thing they did to Newt Gingrech back in the mid 90's. Truth is most of the congress on both sides of the isle are probably guilty of this.......LOL
