Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Some Republicans want to retaliate for the ethics charges against the leader.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- A first-term Texas Democrat broke a seven-year cease-fire between the parties Tuesday by filing an extensive ethics complaint against House Republican Leader Tom DeLay that accuses him of bribery and fund-raising violations.
The complaint, filed by Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, prompted several Republicans to threaten retaliation against Democratic leaders, while others worried about a partisan meltdown in the already fractious and discordant House of Representatives.
Bell's 18-page grievance, bulked to 187 pages with various appendices, cites news reports and ongoing investigations in Texas and lists three claims against DeLay: that he solicited campaign donations in exchange for legislative favors, that he illegally laundered corporate contributions through a Texas political fund-raising committee and that he improperly urged federal agencies to help in a partisan flap in Texas. DeLay, a Texan, is a GOP power there.
Remaining neutral
Democratic leaders took no credit for Bell's move but didn't object to filing the complaint.
"A mountain of evidence indicates that Tom DeLay may be guilty of extremely serious criminal acts," said Bell, who lost a primary fight last March and will lose his seat at the end of this session. He said DeLay and unidentified associates, "in their hunger for power ... have flouted the law at taxpayer expense."
DeLay dismissed the complaint as the work of a "disgruntled" House member who blames him for losing his House seat. "There is no substance to any of [the accusations] and hopefully the Ethics Committee will look at it," DeLay said.
The Ethics Committee has five legislative days to decide whether the complaint meets the standards of what constitutes a complaint. Then it has 45 days to decide whether to dismiss it or proceed with an investigation.
Past charges
On Tuesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois alluded to the ethics charges and countercharges during the 1980s and 1990s that helped bring down House Speakers Jim Wright, D-Texas, and Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
"The worry I have is that you again politicize the process and it denigrates what ethics is all about," Hastert said.
After toppling Wright in 1989 on ethics charges, Republicans led by Gingrich portrayed Democrats as corrupt and took over the House in 1994. Some see a replay in the making.
"It creates an interesting set of issues and even a dilemma for Republicans in the House -- how do they respond?" said Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Referring to Republican threats to retaliate against Democrats, he said: "This was the core of Gingrich's strategy -- get the majority to overreact. ... It's like using the atomic bomb in a sense."
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican and ally of DeLay, warned that Republicans have "plenty of ammunition" against Democrats. "There's plenty of vulnerability among the Democrats, and they don't want to open that can of worms," he said.
Against retaliation
But Rep. Tom Feeney, a Florida Republican, said he would urge his colleagues to avoid retaliation. "I would hope Republicans resist the temptation to do tit-for-tat," he said.
Republicans are likely to debate how to respond as early as today, when they hold their regular closed meeting in the Capitol.
Bell's complaint specifically alleges:
UThat DeLay solicited contributions from Kansas-based Westar Energy Corp. in exchange for political favors. Memos from former Westar executives encouraged company officials to donate to political groups affiliated with DeLay in return for "a seat at the table" when lawmakers wrote legislation affecting the company. The company has undergone a change in leadership since those 2002 memos.
UThat he laundered $190,000 in corporate donations through his Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action committee, in violation of state law.
UThat he used the Federal Aviation Administration to track down Texas Democratic lawmakers who were in hiding to prevent a legislative quorum in Austin during a partisan fight over redistricting.