| There are still three weeks left to wait until Tom DeLay's unceremonious debut on Dancing With The Stars. While we anticipate what might be a whole new era in Awkward White People Dancing, ABC released a few early photos of rehearsals. Tom looks a bit nervous there. But then, it can be difficult to learn how to dance.
Much less challenging for Tom DeLay is committing massive campaign finance fraud, laundering money, sneaking Federal funds, helping corporations buy off congresspeople, and retaliating against his enemies with IRS investigations. So as Tom DeLay returns to the national spotlight for his dance moves, let's take a look at his political career and what he did to disenfranchise the citizens of Texas.
This Week: "Nobody Puts TRMPAC In A Corner!"
The year was 2001. Democrats still held the Texas House, 78-72. That September, Tom DeLay started TRMPAC, the Texas Republican Majority PAC. His goal? To take back the Texas House, and elect a Republican speaker. The end game? Gerrymander Texas' congressional districts to favor Republicans, and institute pay-to-play rules for corporations looking to buy votes in the capitol domes of Austin and D.C.
As the Texas Observer uncovered, TRMPAC collected and spent $600,000 in corporate funds, none of which was reported to the Texas Ethics Commission. In particular, TRMPAC took extensive out-of-state contributions from corporations looking to curry favor with DeLay, then the Majority Whip. Corporate money is not allowed to be spent directly on campaigns, only on PAC administrative costs. Not to be undone, DeLay's TRMPAC sent $190,000 to the RNC, who then split the identical amount in checks to seven GOP house candidates here in Texas. Huh. Convenient.
The Observer tells of one incident two weeks before the 2002 election in which a $100,000 corporate check made out to TRMPAC was handed over to Tom Craddick, whose rise to Speaker was funded in large part by DeLay's organization. And thanks to DeLay's dirty money, in the 2002 elections the Texas House flipped for the first time in over a century, with the Republicans holding a 88-62 majority. This would in turn result in a return to redistricting, in which the state's Congressional lines were redrawn simply to favor the Republican Party. After the 2004 elections, the Texas delegation flipped from 17-15 Democratic to 21-11 Republican, giving DeLay even more influence in D.C., where he was by now installed as Majority Leader.
Now, some folks would write this off as just more partisan politics. No, it's far worse:
It's Cheating.
Tom DeLay and his cronies broke the rules. Many of his staff members and partners in crime have been indicted. While his own indictment winds its way through the court, it's worth noting that he has repeatedly violated the spirit and the letter of the law time and again in a naked power grab only to give more influence and privilege to those who were in the most advantageous positions to start out.
Of course, his own dirty financing didn't stop DeLay from trying to sic the IRS on Texans for Public Justice after the group began investigating DeLay. In 2005, he managed to sneak a $1.5 billion giveaway to Halliburton into an energy bill after the conference committee, 75% of which would wind its way back into his district. And if that weren't enough dirty financing, DeLay and his buddy Roy Blunt even funneled donations for 2000 Inaugural events into private projects of their own.
So while we're waiting to watch the old guy boogie, just remember how he's been tap-dancing on the rights of Texans to have a fair and honest government and genuine representation for years.
As for his fellow cast members? They might want to make sure he hasn't already bought off the judges.
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Past Episodes of Dancing With DeLay-Watch
Week -4: Mugshot Mambo Edition |
