Posted on 04/10/2005 11:07:44 AM PDT by AntiGuv
WASHINGTON - The No. 3 Republican in the Senate said Sunday that embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay needs to answer questions about his ethics and "let the people then judge for themselves."
Sen. Rick Santorum's comments seem to reflect the nervousness among congressional Republicans about the fallout from the increased scrutiny into DeLay's way of doing business.
DeLay, R-Texas, has been dogged in recent months by reports of possible ethics violations. There have been questions about his overseas travel, campaign payments to family members and his connections to lobbyists who are under investigation.
"I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves," said Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
"But from everything I've heard, again, from the comments and responding to those, is everything he's done was according to the law," Santorum told ABC's "This Week."
"Now you may not like some of the things he's done," Santorum said. "That's for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior or not."
DeLay was admonished three times last year by the House ethics committee. He has blamed his woes on Democrats, liberal interest groups and the media.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week that the controversy was distracting DeLay from dealing with more pressing problems before Congress.
Santorum, however, said DeLay is "very effective in leading the House" and that "to date, has not been compromised."
A senior Democratic senator, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, had this advice for the Republicans who control both the House and Senate: "Be careful about how closely you embrace Mr. DeLay."
Dodd cited the new rules for the ethics committee that House Republicans rammed through in the wake of DeLay's difficulties. Those rules require a bipartisan vote before an investigation can be launched. DeLay's office also helped mount a counterattack last fall against Rep. Joel Hefley (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., who was the ethics committee chairman when it came down against DeLay.
"Unfortunately, in his particular case, there's a process that he's tried to change so they could actually reach a determination as to whether or not he's innocent or guilty of the things he's been charged with," Dodd said. "But this is not going to go away."
DeLay "becomes the poster child for a lot of the things the Democrats think are wrong about Republican leadership. As long as he's there, he's going to become a pretty good target," Dodd said on ABC.
The House leader, who took center stage in passing legislation designed to keep alive Terri Schiavo, also has found that President Bush and congressional colleagues are distancing themselves from his comments, after her death, about judges involved in her case.
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," DeLay said, raising the prospect of impeaching members of a separate and independent branch of government. Later, he complained of "an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president."
Bush, declining to endorse DeLay's comments, said Friday that he supports "an independent judiciary." He added, "I believe in proper checks and balances."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said last week that the judges "handled it in a fair and independent way," although he had hoped for a different result.
Democrats have said DeLay's remarks were tantamount to inciting violence against judges.
That's basically what Santorum said in this article. Let Delay respond to the accusations and the voters will decide for themselves. Santorum's right. Delay doesn't have anything to hide. Let him address this and explain it to the people. Most will realize this whole outrage against Delay has been ginned up. The ones who don't, oh well.
FMCDH(BITS)
That's not my knee-jerk reaction.
My knee-jerk reaction is: Every time on of their guys gets in trouble, they close ranks behind him.
What WE have to say about it is not only of no consequence to them, the FACT that it's US doing the criticizing is the major REASON they fight back so hard.
When one of our guys gets in trouble, our leaders get SO WORRIED that the Democrats are unhappy that they turn on their own guy, even before the facts are known.
That's my knee-jerk reaction.
I am sure that Tom delay made contact with Santorum before he spoke to the Lamestream Media. He was being pragmatic,and so should we. Most of the so-called freepers that want Delay gone are fair weather freepers that would not stand behind any of us if push came to shove. I ignore them. Tom Delay came to Congress as an Exterminator,and it suited him well when you look at the insects,termites, and filthy germy rats he has had to work with.
Wow. It took 57 posts for someone to point this out. :o)
Exactly right,some freepers are tone deaf with very short memories.
If you have any specifics I am all ears :-)
Political donations ARE NOT tax deductible.
Ping.
Perhaps it is merely an erroneous perception on my part, but I feel that Rick Santorum has been doing a lot of talking lately, running the gamut from stalwart defender of the cause to bowl of pudding. He's at a high enough level to know that saying nothing is frequently better than saying something, regardless of intent.
"" I am sure that Tom delay made contact with Santorum before he spoke to the Lamestream Media. He was being pragmatic,and so should we. Most of the so-called freepers that want Delay gone are fair weather freepers that would not stand behind any of us if push came to shove. I ignore them. Tom Delay came to Congress as an Exterminator,and it suited him well when you look at the insects,termites, and filthy germy rats he has had to work with.""
I like Tom Delay and I'm shocked to see all the posts against him. The MSM is going after him with both barrels. Why on earth would so called Republicans be against Delay too. I'm new here and can't believe what I'm reading. Your post was great. :)
Delay is being attacked because he stood up against the murder of Terri. I think the attacks against Delay are nothing but trumped up charges to eliminate his voice for justice for Terri and her family. Why do Republicans allow this sort of thing to go on against one of their own?
Sen Schumer is on Fox News making accusations against the *Hard Right*. Who the blank is the hard right? Sen John Cornyn, just said the rhetoric we are hearing from Schumer is over the top. I agree~!!!
Other than the fact that your math needs some improvement, I don't have a problem with this. 50k per year is not unreasonable and family members would be expected to be very motivated campaign workers.
Remember that in the PA election, Ricky.
This is really huge. Look at it that way and that's why they are picking on Delay. Lots of lifetime politicos, judges and law enforcement will get caught in a Special Prosecutor's net. I'm talking democrats and republicans, globalists who aren't even Americans, SENATOR JIM KING comes to mind.
We must continue to DEMAND A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. Attacking Delay is their plan to get us to go away.
It's not going to happen.
Are you a DU troll or just a RINO?
Whomsoever voted against Terri should worry about their next election. Terri was the first American murdered by a probate judge because nobody rescued her. A simple rescue.
Whether they were bribes or not depends on whether the two women actually worked. If they worked, then it's simply compensation for work. If they didn't do any real work, you are probably correct. So, which is it?
So what can we do now?
www.stopactivistjudges.org.
They mean business. They are fed up with judges like George Greer and Fed. Judge Whittemore of Tampa Middle District. They have an e-newsletter.
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