Posted on 06/05/2005 11:28:36 PM PDT by Crackingham
After enlarging their majority in the past two elections, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members' travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year's midterm races. In what Republican strategists call "the DeLay effect," questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders' troubles.
Among those endangered are at least two committee chairmen and several other senior members. Congressional districts that traditionally have been safe for Republicans could become more competitive, according to party officials.
Nowhere is the impact of the ethics issue clearer than here in the Appalachian hills of eastern Ohio, where a thicket of weekly newspapers now gives regular coverage to revelations about House Administration Committee Chairman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and his ties to DeLay and Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist now under criminal and congressional investigation for the tens of millions of dollars in fees he and a partner collected from casino-owning Indian tribes.
Ney is known as "the mayor of Capitol Hill," where his committee controls perks that include BlackBerrys, modular furniture and parking spaces. He is a conservative who has thrived in a blue-collar Democratic district, through gestures such as personally giving tours of the Capitol to 5,000 constituents' children each spring. With his warm relations with other lawmakers in both parties and his mastery of the nooks and crannies of the institution, he has been considered a strong contender to move up the House leadership ladder.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What total garbage!
Time to wake up. Ethics issues already have hurt the GOP.
Wishful thinking. Who's paying attention to this stuff?
Sez who?
Of course they won't say that it could hurt the Dim party, too and/or more, if anyone was paying attention. DeLay's trips are minimal (and possibly even according to House standards) compared to some of the others, epecially that loud-mouth, screeching bag from CA, Maxine Waters.
I propose a different thing to worry about: THE FACT THAT THEY ARE GETTING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING DONE WHATSOEVER. We put these people into an office for a reason, and they can't even do simple things like approving judicial nominations, or putting a Social Security reform package on the table. They are led by weaklings like Bill Frist, and they continue to spend as if we've had surpluses for decades.
There are dozens of things the GOP in Congress should be worrying about, and Tom DeLay's buffoonery should be at the bottom of the list- NOT the top.
Like what? Cite some of the hurt.
Probably sometime around the 2008 primary, when Howie brings his lefty candidate up against Hillary, and the whole party shreds itself apart in the greatest show of comedy yet in this millennium.
Agree...more FODDER from the lefty press...In fact my Libby friend sends me email articles daily...and it is only from the WAPOOP press....( I forbid him from forwarding garbage from the Left Angeles Slimes)
They can't get over themselves so they lather up some scented story to make them feel better....Bwahahahaaa!
My letter to Mark Allen:
Spokeswoman says senator sees no reason to return funds
By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will not return campaign contributions he received during the past five years from lobbyists and clients associated with Jack Abramoff, a Reid spokeswoman said Friday.
Federal officials are investigating whether Abramoff, a lobbyist, bilked millions of dollars from Indian gaming tribes.
Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats have been sharply critical of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who has close ties to Abramoff.
About two-thirds of Abramoff-related campaign funds were given to Republicans. But The Washington Post reported that Abramoff also cultivated Democrats, including Reid.
Reid received $6,500 from Abramoff's associates at the Greenberg Traurig law and lobbying firm from 1999 through 2004, The Washington Post reported Friday.
During the same period, Reid received $40,500 from Indian tribes that were Abramoff clients, the paper reported based on research of federal records.
Reid does not know Abramoff, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.
But Abramoff hired Eddie Ayoob, who was Reid's legislative counsel until 2002 and was assistant finance director on Reid's 1998 Senate campaign.
Ayoob held a fund-raising reception for Reid at the offices of Greenberg Traurig, according to The Washington Post.
Calls to Ayoob on Friday were not returned. Ayoob left Greenberg Traurig earlier this year to join Barnes & Thornburg, another Washington law firm.
Hafen said Ayoob has not done any fund-raising for Reid this year. But, she added, "there is no reason to expect that he will not continue to raise money."
Reid declined an interview request Friday. Hafen said he sees no reason to return the money.
"Indian tribes have the same opportunity as anyone else to participate in the political process," Hafen said. "There is no reason to even make that suggestion."
Federal investigators are examining millions of dollars that Abramoff collected from Indian tribes for lobbying and public relations work.
Reid received his contributions while serving on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He gave up that assignment after he was elected minority leader late last year.
Ernie Stevens, Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, said he does not think money from gaming tribes has made a big difference with Reid.
"We don't always agree with Senator Reid, but I think he has been consistent on Indian gaming issues, and I don't think the contributions have changed his posture on any of those issues," Stevens said. "This is all part of the political process and we have a right to participate."
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jun-04-Sat-2005/news/26662729.html
I guess when you wrote this article:
GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in '06 it must have slipped your mind to mention Reid. I mean there are journalistic standards and you do want your readers to be fully informed, or do you.
Wishful thinking by the compost
Yep, and this is exactly what the whole manufactured ethics scandal is about - hanging a cloud over our most effective leaders.
100% Damn Right BUMP!
Amazingly, the usual gang of left-leaning newspapers will bray of no "independent investigations" of any Democrat, and virtually no mention will be made of the most egregious acts among the Democrats.
Just think about the Clinton years: had such the merest scintilla of such shenanigans occurred in a Bush administration, we would still be seeing various self-congratulating award ceremonies for all of the "investigative journalism" that would have been engendered.
As it was, had it not been for the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, and for foreign media such as the Telegraph, there would have been no coverage to speak of the Clinton scandals.
They have managed to set records for spending our money, and hurting business with more regulations.
ratmedia droppings. period.
Consider the source of this drivel!
100% Correct. They have accomplished nothing.
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Mike Allen can always be counted on to write stories that are straight off the DNC fax line.
What better way to scare the House squishes (moderates) than with a Washington Post article that they are being painted with the Delay brush.
btw, it's complete and utter rubish.
Any time a story comes out like this it should be read as "DNC and the MSM are hoping, praying that House Candidates will be painted with a broad brush if we keep carping about Delay every day and ignore the 20+ Democrats who took more money than he did"
EXCELLENT!
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