Power corrupts, and absolute power is pretty bad too

With the news this weekend that Tom Delay will be stepping down as the House majority leader I thought this would be a good time to look at the recent events that led up to his decision.

September 2004: Three of Tom Delay’s aides are indicted in Texas on illegally funneling campaign contributions to 2002 state candidates.

October 2004: The House Ethics Committee (oxymoron?) admonishes Delay (now House Majority Leader) for endorsing a representative’s son in a Congressional party race in exchange for the father’s support of a House bill.

October 2004: Delay is officially admonished again by his own party in the form of the House Ethic Committee for linking legislative action to donations, but he is allowed to retain his leadership position.

November 2004: House Republicans vote to rescind a party rule that would force Delay to step down as majority leader if he was indicted. Keep in mind Delay hasn’t been indicted of anything at this point. Do you think the House Republicans know something about Delay’s past that we don’t know? Ironically this party rule was introduced by Newt Gingrich and co. after the Republican revolution took back the House in 1994 (?) by running on a platform of ethical reform against a corrupt Democrat House majority.

January 2005: Bowing to criticism (and the general hypocrisy of it all) the House Republicans reinstate the party rule that would force the majority leader to step down if indicted.

January 2005: The Republican-led House instead enacts a rule change that would effectively kill any ethics complaint that was deadlocked in the ethics committee (which not coincidently is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans).

April 2005: The House reverses the ethics complaint rule change.

September 2005: Delay is indicted in Texas on charges of conspiracy to violate state election law and is forced to temporary surrender his House Majority leader position.

September 2005: January 2006: Delay does numerous interviews steadfastly maintaining his innocence and accusing Washington Democrats of orchestrating the Texas investigation. He repeatedly states that he has no intention of stepping down as majority leader.

January 4, 2006: Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, indicted by the federal Justice Department on corruption charges, pleads guilty and promises to name elected officials “on the take” in exchange for a reduced sentence.

January 7, 2006: Delay steps down as House majority leader. I have a hunch that the Abramoff plea might have had something to do with Delay’s sudden change of direction. Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Delay implicated by Abramoff in the very near future.

Still a Delay supporter? Well here’s some Delay quotes I’m sure his supports can agree with.

I AM the federal government. Tom DeLay, to the owner of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003

So many minority youths had volunteered…that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself. Tom DeLay, explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War

Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun? Tom Delay, to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept.

We’re no longer a superpower. We’re a super-duper power. Tom DeLay, explaining why America must topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 interview with Fox News

Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes. Tom DeLay, March 12, 2003

Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills. Tom DeLay, on causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999

A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can’t provide stability, I’m not saying that… It does take a father, though. Tom DeLay, in a radio interview, Feb. 10, 2004

I don’t believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church. Tom DeLay

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. Tom DeLay, during a debate in Congress on increasing the minimum wage, April 23, 1996

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. Tom DeLay, in a CNN interview, Dec. 19, 1995

What astounds me isn’t that we elect crooks, but that we re-elect, support and defend them in the face of undeniable corruption because the majority of citizens deep down really believe that these criminals, despite their short-comings, better represent our interests better than anyone else. National politics has been reduced to picking the better of two evils where people cast their vote for the crook over the adulterer because those are the only two choices. Why do we settle for such poor choices and then defend them when we should be marching to the capital pitchforks in hand?