Most Americans think Ethics is the name of a seaside
county in New England. The whole story of Tom DeLay’s
ethic’s admonishments has been met with a loud,
“Ho hum, so what?” Our beloved TV pundits say this story
has no legs; it is too intricate to be worth
trying to explain to Joetta Six Pack.
The US media prefer to talk fluff; DeLay
supports the reintroduction of DDT, he orchestrated the removal of
carpal tunnel safety laws, his daughter frolicked
in a hot tub full of champagne with lobbyists, he opposed extending
benefits for the unemployed because they would,
“stay out of work for the rest of their lives, and on and on.
The press never try to explain the details of
DeLay’s ethics problems.
They say “Too complex.”
I say bullbush. The US media are just plain lazy.
Tom DeLay and Dick Cheney are the men who drive
Republican policy through the House and Senate.
This makes it even more important that the details
of DeLay’s not-so-complex ethics charges should be
aired in public. Here is what our unindustrious
reporters aren’t bothering to publish:
On September 21, 2004, a grand jury in Austin,Texas
handed down an indictment against Sears Roebuck and Co.;
Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores Inc.; Bacardi
USA Inc.; the Williams Companies Inc.; and some othercorporations.
The third degree felony charges claim these companies
gave money to DeLay's pac, TRMPAC, in violation of Texas law.
Also indicted were DeLay’s three key fundraisers:
James Ellis, Warren Robold and John Colyandro.
This is the team which bought control of the Texas
Legislature in 2002 and then produced the most grossly Gerrymandered
congressional redistricting bill in living memory.
DeLay’s bagmen are charged with money laundering and accepting unlawful
corporate donations of about $190,000. Their
remapped Texas house seats will add five new Republicans to the U.S. Congress
this fall.
Too complex. Don’t worry about it. Did you see
Tiger Woods got married?
I love the US media.
Then this caught my eye: One observer claimed
TRMPAC fundraisers were "shaking down corporations who want
and need access to Congress.”
What an outrageous claim!
Unless it happens to be true........
In June, the Houston Chronicle reported DeLay’s
connection with Bacardi although they didn’t mention the scandal over his
accepting donations for congressional action.
At the dark heart of the matter is legislation in the form of house
bill H.B. 4225.
This makes a single exception to the trademark
laws on ownership of the famous Havana Club rum brand name in the United
States.
The act is written to take the rights away from
a subsidiary of the Cuban government and its French partner Pernod Ricard
in order
to give them to.... Bacardi.
Why get worked up over a mere $25,000 from Cracker
Barrel when they have given the GOP $313,250 in the last ten years?
Well Okay, there was an extra $5,000 to DeLay's
political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, which
set up TRMPAC.
That and $200,000 in soft-money donations. And
their chairman gave another $131,950 to Republican candidates.
Rubbish.
Not even DeLay has enough clout to get
Cracker Barrel off the hook in a lawsuit.
Sure enough, last month we read that Cracker Barrel
had agreed to an $8.7 million settlement to resolve all the pending lawsuits
for segregating blacks in the smoking section,
denying them service, subjecting them to racial slurs and serving them
food taken
from the trash evn while Cracker Barrel management
ignored or condoned the actions and no employees were fired or disciplined.
This is the same wonderful restaurant chain which
issued an executive memo ordering restaurant managers to fire workers
"whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate
normal heterosexual values."
Did I say that DeLay didn’t have the clout to
affect the outcome of a lawsuit?
Ahh, there would be a possible exception to that
if the plaintiff was the US government......
Did you happen to read the Justice Department
statement released on May 3, 2004?
I didn’t think so. I do wish you’d bother to
keep up with such things.
In a separate case, Johnny Ashcroft’s DOJ team
sued Cracker Barrel for violating Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
by engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination
against African-American customers and prospective customers on the
basis of their race or color. The investigation
found 50 different Cracker Barrel restaurants which had racism problems
and
80 percent of the staff had experienced or witnessed
discriminatory treatment of customers at a Cracker Barrel restaurant.
The DOJ resolved the matter with a huge punishment.
They made Cracker Barrel post signs saying they don’t discriminate.
No fines. No firings. No apology. This is a Republican
government at work.
Pay Tom DeLay your donations and sit back for
the ride.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
is also coincidentally a government body. They also happen, coincidentally,
to have filed suit against Sears for illegally
firing a store manager because he was black. The lawsuit seeks to force
Sears to stop
all employment practices that discriminate on
the basis of race. I’m sure it as all just another coincidence that Sears
gave DeLay’s
aides a huge amount of illegal campaign donations.
Watch carefully and see if the EEOC punsih Sears by having to put up signs
saying they don’t discriminate.
No one has heard of the Williams Companies. That
must mean they are small fry and just happened to fall on the wrong side
of the law - you know, sort of like the getaway
car driver. Well actually, we need look no further than the obvious place
to find out;
the US district court in Northern Oklahoma. Everyone
knows ERISA. Well almost everyone. You, my dear reader, are the exception.
There is a rather large suit pending for having
screwed their own staff with the Enronesque device of filling the employee
retirement fund
with their own stock even as its value imploded.
Nothing that a bit of DeLay tort reform won’t handle.
If this isn’t enough to persuade you that ‘The
Hammer’ needs to be removed, then perhaps you should read up on DeLay's
federal crime of offering to support congressman
Nick Smith's son in an election in return for a vote on the Medicare bill.
Or you should research his illegal quid pro quo
relations with lobbyists. Or read the internal Enron memos in which DeLay
arm twisted
their execs for $100,000 which was used illegally
to help redistricting the state of Texas. Or you could investigate how
former DeLay
employee refused access to DeLay in his position
as Majority Leader without the payment of millions of dollars by Indian
tribes.
Or read yet another ethics complaint which charges
DeLay with bribery, extortion and abuse of power.
How much evil is “too evil” to be a leader of our nation?
I am amazed to find that I agree with ultra-right
wing activists, Judicial watch, on the need for this corrupt man to step
aside.
I ask you to join me in calling the Chairman
of the House Ethics Committee and demanding the appointment of an outside
counsel to
investigate DeLay.
The number for that call is 202-225-4422.
Sources:
http://www.tomdelayethicsprobe.com/
http://www.footwearnews.com/fnstories.cfm#3278
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131897,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2004-05-03-cracker-barrel_x.htm
http://www.pressroom.com/~afrimale/cracker.htm
http://tx.cpusa.org/houston704.htm
http://www.cmht.com/casewatch/healthcare/williams.html
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/05-03-04.html