DeLay is leaving, but ethical issues remain in Washington

If Tom DeLay's resignation from Congress removes the phrase "culture of corruption" from this November's political lexicon, he may have served his party as well in leaving as he did in leading it. But that's not a sure thing.
DeLay, whose ruthless style earned him the nickname "The Hammer," pounded a nail in his own political coffin Tuesday, announcing that he would not seek re-election in November and that he would leave Congress sometime in June.
Of course, even in making his announcement, DeLay acknowledged no wrongdoing on his part. Instead, he accused "liberal Democrats" of attempting to steal his House seat from the Republicans by running an unfair campaign that attacked his integrity.
Please.
DeLay was the architect of the "K Street Project," which assured that lobbyists who wanted a sympathetic Republican ear would raise money by the millions for GOP candidates. That backfired when Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist with close ties to DeLay, pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. Two of DeLay's top aides also pleaded guilty to a menu of charges; one aide to running a criminal enterprise out of DeLay's office.
Change of heart
Now The Hammer would have the world believe that he was nothing more than a disinterested spectator and that he had no idea ethical barriers were crumbling all around him.
DeLay rammed through a redistricting plan in Texas that shifted the Congressional delegation from purple to bright red overnight; the five House seats Republicans picked up in the 2004 elections all came from the DeLay redistricting.
But to assure that the Texas Legislature would ram through the redistricting plan he wanted, DeLay first had to win control of the state Legislature, and to do that he created campaign finance initiatives that ended up getting him indicted for money laundering. He awaits trial on those charges.
DeLay's successor, House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, praised DeLay as "a great leader ... while not everyone agreed with him every day, he was able to accomplish an awful lot ... and to see him being wrenched through this political stretching machine, if you will, rack, is just not fair."
Once again, DeLay served up as victim of the great Democratic machine. Boehner then warned Democrats to be careful about trying to paint the Republicans as corrupt, saying, "They have members with their own problems on their side of the aisle."
Weak response
It is not surprising that Democrats and Republicans have ethical problems of their own in the making because the House ethics commission has been comatose for more than a year, and recent attempts to restore some sense that Congress cares about ethics were limp at best.
The Senate passed a watered down bill that will allow senators to continue to accept privately financed travel and fly by private jet, but only after checking in with the ethics committee first. Gifts, meals and sports tickets from registered lobbyists are banned, but not from the companies that employ them.
Tom DeLay has become the lightning rod for ethics issues. At first glance, his removal may seem like a good thing to his political allies. But now the spotlight could shift from DeLay to all the House and Senate leaders who find it impossible to pass the kind of ethics bill that would at least discourage the K Street Project and other lesser-known forms of thinly veiled bribery.