Texas22.org Presents: DelayWatch from the District

DeLay blinks on traffic issue: Or does he?

2005-06-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

With all of the modesty that may be due the circumstance the Forum notes that barely 4 weeks after it launched its bumper sticker campaign, regarding Tom DeLay’s refusal to allow funding for Houston’s proposed Metro transit plans, Tom DeLay has announced a 180 degree change in his public position. On Monday it was announced that DeLay would support federal funding for some aspects of a plan to relieve commuter congestion in the Houston area that affects the 22^nd Congressional District. He didn’t agree to the rail plan that is needed. He didn’t actually secure any funding. He just announced that he doesn’t oppose it anymore.

We take an appropriate amount of credit for the fact that DeLay recognized that he had to take a different public position on this issue. Our first issue campaign can be called a success because immediately after it was launched a change of position was announced. The forum does not intend to relent on the traffic bumper sticker campaign because we have learned that you have to watch not what Tom DeLay says but what he does. Nothing announced on Monday means that any progress has been achieved. When funding occurs for transportation programs that actually help the people of the District the campaign can claim success. Right now actions on the part of whoever represents the District after the fall elections will speak louder than words. In the mean time if you are sitting in Houston traffic jams you can thank Tom DeLay for standing in the way of transportation progress.

DeLay calls Sweatshop squalor a "Glowing example of a Free Market Success"

2005-05-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

When Tom DeLay got his ride on Air Force One with the President he had just finished another denial that he is protecting sweatshop operators in the Northern Mariana Islands. Even after an ABC News 20/20 program documented the wretched conditions where Tom DeLay’s patrons compete with American Workers by charging imported workers a recruitment fee for the job, paying well below minimum wage and charging them for their barracks style sub-slum housing, Tom DeLay denies that this is happening. There have been Congressional investigations, attempts at legislation in the Senate and the American companies tarred with the embarrassment of having trafficked in the ill gotten goods, have fully apologized and made reparations. Yet, on May 15, 2005, yes two weeks ago, Tom DeLay said: “…there was no evidence of any of that going on. NO evidence of sweatshops as portrayed by the national media…… they could not produce one story or one individual to prove their allegations,”. He totally closes his mind to the evidence that is so obvious to nearly all others who have looked into the matter.

Today, a woman named Carmencita Abad, held a press conference in Houston to declare that she was one of those people. She was put forward by the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice group and the AFL-CIO Council, to show how deceitful Tom DeLay’s support for the sweatshop owners is, when he directly helps foreign interests undermine worker’s here in America.

It is bad enough that the representative of the people of the 22^nd Congressional District prefers to support interests that abuse and enslave workers to help those interests sell their products for a price below what American companies can match, but he is directly supporting the loss of over 60,000 American jobs when companies who pay decent wages cannot compete with the corrupt companies. When Tom DeLay supports foreign interests, he is costing us all our livelihood in one way or another. What Republican Senator Frank Murkowski and so many others have called appalling, Tom DeLay called “a glowing example of free market success.”

People in the 22^nd Congressional District deserve a representative that will protect their interests ahead of those of corrupt foreign interests. His refusal to acknowledge the problem that the United States Senate has tried to remedy and others have denounced is evidence of his disdain for some elements of common decency.

Reverand Dr. Diana Dale, a leading corporate chaplain who teaches ethics at the Universtiy of St. Thomas said: “I think it’s time for all of us to respectfully ask Congressman DeLay to re-examine his actions and statements, to ask himself if his actions were really in line with God’s teachings . . . .” This forum agrees. Really Mr. DeLay, have you no sense of decency?

As pieces fall into place Mordred can see the room of the Round Table

2005-05-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today in Austin State District Judge Joe Hart decided as a matter of law, after trial, that Tom DeLay's co-conspirators acted in violation of law when they illegally took huge amounts of Corporate money to influence the 2002 elections. This was the first legal point in showing to people that the neo conservative agenda to change America was founded on illegal activities that stems from corrupt ideas and corrupt actions.

Around the 22nd District the reaction has been focused on how it effects the people who live here. It is bad enough that the Congressman that is elected from here is being dogged by people who are showing how corrupt and illegal his conduct is, the people here keep asking: "So what has Tom DeLay been doing on our behalf?"

Karl Silverman, the President of the Neighborhood Democrats Club in Galveston County Texas said: "It's bad enough that the way he does business so often violates the rules and laws that apply to his work, but it's another example of the amount of time he spends pounding the pavement for issues that have nothing to do with why he was elected to office."

Karrie Washenfelder, President of the Fort Bend Employee Federation stated: "The people who live here are getting tired of having a Congressman who coldly turns his back on key issues that matter to his constituents."

Gayle Fallon of the Houston Federation of Teachers added: "Tom DeLay has managed to secure reelection over the last 10 elections without having paid much attention to the issues of the people in his district but his margins of victory have been declining. With all the stories of the different things he's done that stretched the limits of ethics and legality, his failure to attend to the needs of his people is going to exact a toll when he tries to get the voters' approval in his next election."

The national clamor over Tom DeLays arrogance and refusal to be accountable to normal standards of conduct are noticed in the District but the final quesiton will always be: will the people here want to keep being painted with his bad conduct as their representative on the national scene? These Texas expect more from someone who is supposed to represent them.

This race is one of the most competitive in Nation

2005-05-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

Dr. Richard Murray of the University of Houston pointed the Forum to the recent rating by the University of Virginia Center for Politics which lists the Congressional race in the Texas 22nd district as THE most competitive race in the Country. Can anyone remember the word invincible?

More numbers to crunch

2005-05-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

The Forum has always noted that Mike FJetland, who ran as a Republican in primaries against Tom DeLay in 2000 and 2002 got 16% of the Republican vote in his first outing, and 20% in the second effort. Mike got these numbers with nearly no financial support and no name recognition. Nearly 1 in 5 Republicans were already inclined to turn DeLay out back then. Now Mike claims on his blog that 40% of the Republicans who voted in the Republican Primary in 2004, when there was no opponent against DeLay, showed up and voted, but did not check DeLay as a choice among the other votes they cast. They voted in the Republican Primary but did not vote for DeLay. Without checking Mike's numbers it does sound like Tom DeLay's troubles at home are larger than the mainstream media is picking up. This makes it seem like 40% of the Repbulicans in DeLay's district are looking for someone else to vote for.

2005-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Bumper Sticker for our Schools

DeLay really Nails Teachers when it comes to Social Security

2005-05-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that there is a storm brewing over Social Security. As Tom DeLay and his "conservative movement" try to take benefits from working people by the "starve the beast" ideology, few people have been able to appreciate how thoughtlessly he has gone after the people who teach our children: the teachers. Years ago Congress passed a bill called the Windfall Elimination Provision. It cuts the benefits of a small group of people who have vested Social Security rights and also are entitled to Texas Teacher Retirement. This law absolutely cuts this benefit that everyone else would get if they were not teachers in Texas. Yes it is that narrowly unfair and that bad. Read the report of the unfairness on the Teachers' web page. (Click on the Blue link).

Notice it mentions that over 300 members of Congress (as in more than a majority), have co-sponsored the bill to correct this unfairness. The Fairness Act, as it is called, received 193 signatures on a 'discharge petition' seeking to force it out of committee to remedy the unfairness. The only thing stopping it is Tom DeLay's insistence that this way of saving money for the tax breaks for the rich is the fairest thing to do. No wonder he felt comfortable in saying, at the Clear Lake debate last year: "I don't feel it is my job to improve education".

2005-05-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Sitting in Traffic? Thank Tom DeLay

2005-05-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

The first of the issue focused media opportunities of the District 22 Political Forum has hit the streets. The 'Sitting in Traffic' campaign has been rolled out in the form of bumper stickers that can be obtained through the Texas22.org Site. Go to the site, click on donate and for a three dollar donation the forum will mail you a bumper sticker. They have been available at various public events including the Galveston County Jumbo Gumbo cook-off and the Family fun day at Bass park last weekend. Envision the multitudes who sit in traffic having to stare at a bumper sticker in front of them that reminds them that the reason we have constant construction, no master transit plan and one of the worst mass transit programs is that Tom DeLay steadfastly refuses to allow the development of mass transit.

Many of you will remember that Tom DeLay personally stood in the way of transit funding. He adamantly blocked all efforts until our public officials placed the matter up for a bond issue, got public approval and then had to pay 100% of the cost of the initial scaled down transit system we now have. The problems we have with the gallant effort to get mass transit are due to Tom DeLay's efforts to prevent it from happening. When Houston's Metro tried to get additional federal funds, after paying the first 100%, Tom DeLay and John Culberson blocked the legislation that would have funded the next phase last fall.

If you are sitting in traffic. You can thank Tom DeLay. In debate last fall he tried inartfully to explain that there were statistical data that proved it was better to build more roads and have more cars. One need only guess which interests donated to his campaigns to begin to understand where his logic is developed. In the meantime Houstonians and the rest of the District will sit in traffic.

Buy the bumper stickers. Support the program to remind people why they are wasting their time and money going nowhere. Go to the Texas22.org site and get a bumper sticker.

A confluence of forces

2005-05-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

Off the Kuff reports on a visit from esteemed elder statesman of the Republican party, Pete McCloskey. Pete and a group of senior Republicans recently wrote to Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert registering their dissatisfaction with how the House was handling its ethics investigation of Tom DeLay. This group of Republicans now refer to themselves as the 'Revolt of the Elders' and have made inquiries, as reported earlier about what Tom DeLay's status is with his voters. The District 22 Political Forum is one of the few groups that actually has continued connection with active political groups in all four Counties in the District and provided the McCloskey group with information and resources on several occasions.

On the heels of the McCloskey visit Click2 Houston televsion reports that another poll has been published demonstrating that there is substantial unrest among the citizens of this District with Tom DeLay's conduct in office. The Click2 poll, also reported at the Daily DeLay, asserts that 51% disapprove of how Tom DeLay is performing as Congressman. The poll indicates that 57% of the people in the District think that he should resign either from the leadership position or from Congress altogether. This in combination with the recent Chronicle/Zogby poll shows mounting and consistent opposition to Tom DeLay's conduct as the Congressman from this area.

The article on the Click2 Houston web page carries a quote from a DeLay spokesman:

"The people of his district know that Congressman DeLay is guided by principles, not by polls. He keeps getting re-elected election after election because of the positive work he's doing on the issues that matter most to the families in his district like growing the economy, fully funding our space program, fighting for tax relief, and improving mobility."

The forum raises the question of whether a poll of the District would reveal that anyone in the District feels that Tom DeLay does any good work that favors the people who live here in any of the areas mentioned by the spokesperson. After all is said and done will the people here feel like he is representing their best interests? These polls seem to say no.

Tex 22 Republicans against DeLay

2005-04-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

The Forum has been contacted several times by Republicans from the District and by some National Republican interests about the dissatisfaction that many mainstream Repbublicans feel about how Tom DeLay has taken his extremism beyond their values. As one might hope, many Repbublicans do not share Tom DeLay's wierd worldview. Now some are voicing their discomfort with their politics being lumped in with what Tom DeLay has come to stand for.

Patricia Baig is a Repbublican from Fort Bend County (in the District) who put her money where her mouth is and took out a full page ad in her local paper to invite Republicans to protest Tom DeLay's recent speech at a local convention. The Republicans tried to discredit her, as they always do when they don't like the message, but she stands tall as a Republican who cannot tolerate Tom DeLay's intolerance for people. The Forum and Patricia Baig made contact and are entering some interesting areas for further discussion.

After a lengthy talk on the phone the Forum agreed to forward the contact information for several Repbublicans who have been contact with the Forum to Ms. Baig to see if they would be interested in working with her in future efforts. Watch this blog for further announcements regarding whether this will be a bi-partisan Forum or whether it will be working with a Republican group with similar objectives. Ms. Baig is not going away and she represents a growing sentiment in the District that Republicans have had enough of Tom DeLay.

DeLay not interested in improving education

2005-04-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Go to the Houston Democratic party site and look at the video of Tom DeLay at the Clear Lake Debate in October of last year. After calling teachers' side job social security benefits a needless windfall and taking them away from Texas teachers, and then taking up special sessions of the part time legislature with his redistricting scandal instead of School funding reform, he explained his priorities in this answer to a question. "I don't believe its my job to improve education". Click on this link to the April 10, 2004 post on the Houston Dems site to see the video.

Not caring about the fact that Texas spends nearly the least on education for its students of nearly every state, and pays its teachers nearly the worst, Tom DeLay demonstrates that he views his job as bigger than caring about the concerns of the people who elect him to office. He has fat cat corporate donors to please. The concerns of the people are somewhere down his list of what is his job.

Power Corrupts: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

2005-04-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

For purely partisan reasons Tom DeLay sought to depose a sitting President: Bill Clinton. His effort failed and he left a trail of devastation from all of his cohorts, none of whom should not have been throwing the first stone. He used his power to try to damage Article I of the Constitution.

When the Ethics watchdog Committee of his own Congress determined that he acted wrongly and admonished him for acts that constitute Bribery he deposed all of the Congressmen and staff who had the temerity to question his conduct: In an extreme abuse of power he just had them removed from the Committee. Another path of destruction. This was an assault on the very integrity of the Second Article of the Constitution.

Now, when the State and Federal Courts refused to bend to his will and unanimously stood by the rule of law, he is aiming to depose whole Court systems. Our Courts were created and honored in Article Three of the Constitution.

He has no objection to laying waste to whole articles of the United States Constitution. He feels empowered to assault each of the three branches of our government. He brags of raw power. "I am the federal Government".

He was never elected by us to dismantle the very Constitution that defines what is so special about America. It invented freedom in government.

What is most disturbing about this pattern is the aura that he dances around, that his worldview includes a calling from his understanding of God. He claims that it is a Moral obligation he is fulfilling. His God is guiding him?

The good people of the 22nd Congressional District will not allow this to stand. In the final analysis it is our votes that will strike the most righteous blows for honor in our Government. His many acts in violation of our founding beliefs have never been brought out more clearly than they have in the last several months. His are not the values Texans stand by.

A Stealth Open House Chapter II

2005-03-31T07:50:00.001-08:00

Since he took a lease on office space in the new part of his gerrymandered District Tom DeLay avoided announcing that the place was open for business. For weeks I have heard of people calling the office to ask when it would be open and their inquiries were never answered. On one occasion several members of the Bay Area New Democrats (BAND) visited the office to ask what was going on and still could not find out when the office would open officially.

On March 29, 2005 a BAND member called to say that there was a rumor that the Grand Opening was to be that night. I called the office to confirm and the person who answered the phone said he was not sure but would find out. He placed me on hold and when he came back he was NOT SURE!!!! A reporter from a major Metro paper called later that day and said he had received a notice that the Congressman was planning to host some people at the office to formally open the venue.

With this late notice the Bay Area New Democrats intrepid warriors that they are were only able to muster out six people to voice opposition to the policies of Tom DeLay. This pretty good showing of community sentiment was an off day for BAND which can usually be counted upon for 15-20 residents who have one bone or another to pick with the Majority Leader. It is well reported on the Web site of the Harris County Democratic Party and in 'The Stakeholder.

A Stealth Open House

2005-03-31T07:50:00.000-08:00

Tom DeLay tends to shy away from announcing public events in his own District. The extent of the protests against him when it is known that he will be in town (which is not often) mar his image as one who holds the regard of his constituents.

Since he obtained office space in this part of his new gerrymander Tom DeLay had never announced it was open to the public. We know this because I visited the office in February and asked the staffer when the office would be open to the Public. The staff person said he was not sure. Numerous people have reported calling the office number to ask for the date of the Grand Opening and recieved similarly vague answers. On Tuesday March 29, 2005 I received a call from a reliable source telling me that it had been announced that the Grand Opening was that night and asking that I confirm the event. I called the Office of Tom DeLay and asked if it was true that there would be an Open House that night at that office and was placed on hold while the person on the phone asked. When he returned he said he wasn't sure! Next I received a call from a reporter from a major Metropolitan news organization who said that he had received notice that there would be such an event.

The benefit of the late and vague notice of the Grand Opening was to limit the number of protesters to about six. Their escapades are reported at the Harris County Democratic Party Web page at and in the Stakeholder. (Click on the two links to see the coverage.)

Beltway Banditos Just Wanna Have Fun?

2005-03-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

In 2004 an unkown political neophyte nearly toppled a giant here by running an old fashioned I am a nice guy and he isn't campaign. He spoke to issues that mattered to people and the people loved it. He was like a rock star travelling anywhere he went. At the State Party convention it was like he was the only candidate that paid attention. He increased the vote for his party from a nearly rock solid 35% t0 41% and took the giant off his 65% solid base to a paltry 55%. DeLay lost one of the four counties and only won his home county by 52%

Now there is a furor raging, primarily among the D.C. in-bred community, raising a bunch of stink that will most likely only matter in the D.C. community. DeLay and the President have sloughed it off publicly because they know the most crucial fact about it. If it doesn't matter to District 22 it will not matter. If all of the charges now aired are true, and they mean something adverse to DeLay, he could still get re-elected if people do not check the pulse of what the relevant community down here cares about.

May all of those who ardently protest the ills of a government that operates out of Tom DeLay's pay for play book continue to air their greivances. Just don't forget that the true political and legal focus is right here in the Texas 22nd. Will people in Texas prefer to stand with their Mordred as he weathers the storm from the North, or will they side with their nice guy candidate who promises a real change to real Texas values?

With some help and understanding the people here can achieve the change that was started when the nice guy turned the tide against DeLay with little more than hard work and determination. If any of the inciteful beltway banditos want to see the fruits of their labor they will look into what the people here are saying about the brouhaha way up there. Failing to heed Tip O'Neill's admonition will exact its price.

Calls for Resignation become louder

2005-03-15T01:09:00.000-08:00

The Public Campaign Action Fund has ramped up the drumbeat for removal of Tom DeLay as a blight on our National scene. Today they call for his resignation listing 10 reasons why he has violated the trust of the Nation. Interestingly, as bad as each reason is, and as much as this column supports the effort, none of their reasons mentions the reason why people in the Texas 22nd need to rebel against his conduct. He no longer represents our interests as our legislator. We demand representation in Congress and, if his resignation from the Legislature is the only way for us to obtain our rights, so be it. Ulitmately our vote will determine whether he should stay in power. As the group with the most at stake in this issue, we the voters will have the final say. This column offers its support to the the Action Fund and will stay on the course of pointing out the failures of Tom DeLay to represent his people. We are the voice that counts.

Can you say CACAPHONY? What happens in Brazoria Plays in Peoria

2005-03-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

To the 10,000 people who gave money last year to oppose Tom DeLay your money was well spent. Keep it up. Just because you don't live in his District does not mean that your finacial "vote" did not send a meaningful signal.

In yet another post highlighting the extent of the world media's attention to the broad misconduct of the Congressman from our District the Houston Chronicle and the Washington Post set out the obstacle course Tom DeLay will have to navigate to stay his course on his agenda in Washington. Since the issues that most interest the people who live here have never been high on the list in his agenda we ask you to note the comment that the District 22 Political Forum has been making for months. People around the Country can help themselves by paying attention to what is happening here.

"House Republicans are publicly standing by DeLay, R-Sugar Land, but some wonder privately whether the reports by Washington-based reporters will seep into news media outlets in their districts and derail their legislative initiatives." Houston Chronicle March 13, 2005

Effective action to publicize the failure attend to local issues by the Majority Leader will make his cronies in Washington all take note of the risk they face in their own Districts for their affiliation with a bad agenda. What happens in Brazoria plays in Peoria.

And what does this mean? Is he slipping?

2005-03-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

At the bottom of a Chronicle Story about how we are getting more highway money (which apparently is instead of mass transit money), there is just a little comment about how the provision that Tom DeLay wanted was not part of the proposed legislation. If you attach significance to such tid bits it suggests that the Majority Leader doesn't have complete control. Is that possible?

The District 22 Political Forum maintains that an active process of letting the people who live here know how they are being represented by their Congressman will let the other members of congress know that there is discontent in DeLay's home District. With enough attention broadcast to the voters here in the District one might expect to see a change in his status after the next election. Enough evidence of voter dissatisfaction here in this homeland should empower other members of Congress to know that they can stand for their own interests and not be kowed by abuses of power by the leadership. Can we hope that this article is a portent of things to come?

His conduct no longer reflects the values of the mainstream voter in this area now, if it ever did.

Here they come. Cuts at NASA

2005-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

As always it is hard to sift information from the chaff we get in the press releases but this article in the Houston Chronicle has an aroma that suggests that the budget funding for NASA that has been touted as 100% funding does not mean that NASA jobs in Houston are better off. It also does not mean that it will be NASA that will stay stable in the Houston economy. Note the mention of jobs in other states. The principle work will apparently be done by contractors and their positions will likely be in other communities. Where is the benefit to having Tom DeLay as the Congressman for this District? If you are already wealthy purchase stock in one of the winners in the Contractor bidding wars.

Tom DeLay is in the News

2005-03-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

The coverage of Tom DeLay last night by Leslie Stahl of CBS 60 Minutes focused upon the sly way that the people who stand with Tom DeLay try to assume that the laws that apply to the rest of us do not apply to them. All of the complaints that they levy at the legal profession for trying to fight for the people on the "wrong" side of social issues are expressed out of their own mouths when it is their feet being held to the fire. What a sleazy contortion of the law they reach for when they try to explain that all of DeLay's people's expenses were administrative. It follows DeLay's own explanation for why it was O.K. for lobbyist Abramson to pay $14,000.00 for his trip to a luxury hotel in Paris. PARIS, as in FRANCE! (e-mail Ombudsman to get the link for that article)

If you want to see an example of anti-lawyer hypocrisy you should read the answer Tom DeLay's lawyers filed to the Chris Bell ethics complaint. They raise every objection to the Bell complaint that they whine about when a lawyer raises the same argument for other people that are in the legal system. Let us eliminate the rights of people who are unfortunate enought to have to go to court to solve a problem but wait. Don't change anything until after my problem is out of the way. I want all of the benefits of our legal system while they are there but when I don't need them any more then don't let anyone else obtain them.

What is comes down to is that the Washington Post article highlighting how he is in trouble back home (as in here in Webster, Texas) is just a precurser to the stories that are in the wings which will demonstrate how he is no longer seen here as a representative of the values of this community.

While I was writing the post below another e-mail came in from a disaffected republican asking what he and his wife could do to address the problem of how DeLay represents us here in the District. This two party family became a one party family over how re-districting was effected.

Hold the Phones: Republicans want DeLay out?

2005-03-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

A Republican resident of Fort Bend County (where Tom DeLay lives), just sent me a post through the http://www.dist22pf.org/ web site to vent the views of a group of Texas District 22 Republicans over how far the majority agenda has moved away from mainstream Texas values. A lengthy telephone call followed in which a major effort by Republicans to find an opponent to DeLay was discussed by this disaffected resident. If you credit the testimony of one voice from Richmond, the people of Faith and mainstream residents in DeLay's home area view the dishonest and manipulative way that things have been done in their name with embarrassment. Since a total unknown Republican ran against DeLay in the Primary in the past, and garnered 20% of the Republican vote, in DeLay's best years, you might think a well developed Republican candidate would be a serious problem for the ethically challenged Majority Leader to face in his own primary. The move is afoot among decent folks to find an alternative to pay for play politics here in the Texas 22nd.

What effect will it have on members of the Republican conference in Washington if they begin to realize that the Majority Leader may not even be re-elected next time? Could they learn to live with the concept that Americans have come to know as compromise? Could there be honor and fairness in Washington if the corrupt power plays of the past were marginalized? Stay tuned. Things are getting interesting.

DeLay Decides to meet his constituents

2005-03-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post seems to have picked up one of Tom DeLay's Press Releases and reports that he plans to act like a representative of the people. Last year the local Congressmen and Women who returned to their Districts dutifully nearly every weekend used to joke that they never saw Tom DeLay on the flights from Washington. Now the Post reports that he is back all the time. No one here noticed his presence yet but the times they are a changin'. Next we might find out that he would like to pass legislation that improves the lives of his constituents or something progressive like that. Like maybe the clear highways initiative.

Nasa cuts? Let's do what the Greeks did to the bearer of bad news

2005-02-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Under the heading of 'Watch what they do not what they say", pay attention to what is happening at NASA. While Tom DeLay is trying to curry political capital by trumpeting his role as savior of NASA programs, he is presiding over a process to cut NASA. The Washington Post columnist Steve Barr writes about a process that NASA insiders have been trying to bring out since back in the 2004 election. Very little about what Tom DeLay has in mind for NASA involves local jobs in the 22nd Congressional District. His fat cat lobby buddies at the contractors who do work for NASA will make out in the long run but the jobs will be in Kansas, Oregon and, most likely, Bangladesh or India. For those familiar with Tom's famous sweat shop speech, about how the factories in Saipan that were not even paying their workers' wages represented what America is all about, (I have the video) just imagine the call center or the CAD operation that the outsource industry will provide when the NASA jobs are all subcontracted out. When Tom DeLay says he has done something good for the people of the District you must do what political analysts have done since Deep Throat advised the Washington Post about the Nixon plotters: "Follow the money". In District 22, in Texas, the real money never seems to wind up in the pockets of the people who live here. Neither does the mass transit money, or Social Security or Veterans benefits.

Tom DeLay: Stranger in his own District

2005-02-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed all of the Congressmen and Congresswomen who are holding Town Hall meetings in their Districts to discuss Social Security Reform? The Bay Area New Democrats has issued a call asking Tom DeLay to hold such a meeting here in his District. This is symptomatic of the situation that residents of this District have learned to live with for the last 20 years. As a 'safe seat' incumbant DeLay has an abysmal record of constituent contact. He nearly never even opened a campaign office to make contact with the people who vote for his party. In fact on the few occasions that he has attempted to hold meetings in the District to strongarm his voters to his way of thinking he has been nearly booed off the stage. As a resident I am not aware of many meetings he has ever scheduled in advance to make public contact regarding community issues. He has not publicly announced any public meetings about Social Security reform to date. (The Chronicles claim to the contrary notwithstanding.) Considering the simmering discontent in this area over his treatment of fairness issues, it is possible he is trying to avoid letting people know how he really stands on their important issues.

Cases in point: Ask anyone at the Texas Federation of Teachers about how he was received at their Sugarland meeting when he tried to call the teachers ungrateful for wanting him to restore the Social Security benefits that he called a windfall. (He bottled a fairness act in committee that would have recanted his Bill, which he called the Windfall Elimination Provision(WEP)). Also, when a local Educational instutution sent out 7,500 invitations to an event to 'honor' him (i.e. campaign for him) for all of his good work in HIGHER education, more protestors showed up than guests. (SEE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT) It seems like he does not look forward to facing the people who live in his District in anything resembling an open forum. A lunch guest at a BAND get together commented that he walked into a retirement home facility to accidentally find that a town hall meeting was in progress. Tom DeLay was there but had not announced the event in advance and it was not open to the public.

Lets hope that the BAND invitation to Tom DeLay, to have an open forum on Social Security, will result in some measure of flushing DeLay out on how his position on Social Security could possibly be helpful to the residents of the District. Obviously he can run but he can't hide from the people who live here.

Civility? In DeLay's House?

2005-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

It might as well be from The Enquirer. My home page features headlines by the Yahoo news service, whatever that is. The headline today referenced an effort to bring civility back to the U.S. House of Representatives. What a nice idea. I wondered. Was Tom DeLay going to allow Democrats back in to markup Bills? How about letting Democrats participate in House-Senate Conferences to reconcile legislation. Letting Democrats in, to the legislative process, would be a great step toward bringing civility to our legislative process.

As it turns out it is a story about one Congressman, a Democrat from suburban, (i.e. almost Republican) Long Island who would like it if they had tea together now and then. It was almost a Republican smoke and mirrors kind of idea. Act nice and say nice things while twisting the knife in the back. It was a feel good moment though, when I first saw the headline.

Gallows humor a la DeLay

2005-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

He meant this as humor but the context suggests that he knows it is not very funny:

• The latest from the mouth of Tom DeLay: "Honestly, I can't tell you how much easier it is to squeeze votes out of these freshmen (lawmakers) or money out of big donors when they think if they say 'no,' I'm going to put a horse head in their bed or something." Read the rest of story at ABC News. -- Feb. 10, 2005

The video of this, from his macabre stand up routine, at the National Press Club, is currently available at C-Span's programming site. He really did say that.

This is Mordred in Galt's Gulch

2005-02-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

In the face of the scorn of his peers in Congress, who are too fearful to stand up to him, Tom DeLay contemplates siezing higher office. The blogs are ablaze with the rumor that DeLay has the scheme in place to put him into the Office of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Shameless in his willingness to abuse the power he wields, it is likely that his premonition that the only thing that he has to fear is his own hubris will come to fruition. Trying the get out of jail free ruse, having the Texas Legislature pass a law to try to divert a prosecuting attorney from his investigation of DeLay related criminal conduct that has seen some participants admit guilt, and then leveraging his way to the top job just may not bode well here in his home District. The Repbulican blog claiming an inside track on the news of Delay's ascension acknowledges uneasiness here in the District about his abuses of power. We will see. Tom has not taken care of business with most of the people who live here.

Moot the Get out of Jail Free Card

2005-02-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

Who needs a "Get Out of Jail Free" card when friends like Mary Denny of colorful Flower Mound Texas will deliver unto you a “nobody can touch Tom DeLay” card. Rick Casey, Columnist for the Houston Chronicle, explains the absurdity of changing the Constitutional process of investigating and convicting criminals (like Prosecutor Ronnie Earle is attempting to do regarding Tom DeLay's conduct) to allow political appointees to decide whether particular crimes by politicians should be investigated. I wonder who she had in mind when she invented this absurd idea. What is most distressing is that, despite the fact that it makes no contact with any known system of fairness or due process; it could become the Law in Texas. I do not hear any significant protest from members of the dominant party decrying how abhorrent such an idea is to our system of Justice. Can Tom DeLay really insulate himself from the same moral judgments others must face, just by having a friend pass a law?

While on this subject lets take a stroll down memory lane when Tom DeLay thought he had the moral authority to pass judgment on another politician. When most of the World prayed and hoped that our Congress would find a rational course to address the wrongful behavior of the President of the United States, Tom DeLay, perhaps single handedly,forced the U.S. House of Representatives to pursue an investigation that harmed every American. Not content to expose all of the disappointing information that this investigation revealed Mr. D,eLay demanded that the Quasi Grand Jury, which is the capacity in which his House of Representatives acted, charge the President with the discovered behavior even though no legal mind in the nation believed that they amounted to something a real Grand Jury would consider "High Crimes and Misdemeanors". Even though Tom DeLay, behaving like no participant in our Justice system would be allowed to act, rammed the impeachment through the House, it was always known that there would never be any outcome but one that rendered the whole process an embarrassing blight on our National pride. The Upper body, the United States Senate, would never vote to support Tom DeLay’s delusional notion of how our system works.

It is clear that Tom DeLay's friends want to make sure that no authority has the ability to treat DeLay the way he treated the Office of the President of the United States of America. They plan to replace Judicial functions with laws that protect those who have the financial or political might, to accomplish, by legislative edict, that which no known justice system would allow.

There are people living in the 22nd Congressional District who have suffered from the unfair justice system being crafted by Tom DeLay. People who were harmed by medical negligence but cannot sue, people who have been poisoned by drugs that didn't do what they were supposed to do who cannot sue, and people who have been put in prison by Courts hampered by federal aid cutbacks. There may be enough of these people to add to the others who do not want to be represented by a person of deficient moral authority, to make sure that their voice is heard in the future.

D.A. Ronnie Earle profiled in Esquire magazine

2005-02-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Go to Daily DeLay and read some excerpts from some in-depth coverage of the DeLay investigator by Esquire magazine.

As always you can click on the highlighted words which will magically transport you to the Daily DeLay site. Always feel free to click on the comments link at the bottom of this paragraph to make comments to the thoughts contained in this post.

Caroline, my new best friend in politics, tells me that we in the blogosphere need to tell neophytes just how to get the most of the blog experience. Once we learn a little technology we seem to forget that others haven't.

Hey DeLay: Just tear off the bottom third of the Constitution. What is it our troops fight and die for?

2005-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Consider this little bit of hypocrisy. Our taxpayer's budget will include money to compensate all of the people who were "mistreated" when they were put in Abu Graib prison by our troops in the name of bringing freedom to Iraq. Many of these people were criminals, terrorists, miscrants or worse. There will be no trial. No Judge, jury or lawyer. Americans will just foot the bill for however much Tom DeLay and the President decide to put in the budget to justly compensate them for being sorely afflicted by being caught up in the war.

In the mean time our P.O.W.s who were tortured at Abu Graib by Sadam's folks during desert storm went to Court and earned a judgement under our law and the rule of International Courts, are being denied their recovery from Iraqi money because Tom DeLay and the President think the Iraqi's need it more. (See today's L.A. Times) This is another example of how Tom DeLay thinks that the Constitution stops at the First Article. Tort reform, bringing decisions about people's rights against companies out of the Third Article (defining the Court system) into the Legistlative arena is nothing less than a Constitutional coup against the people's rights. There aim is to replace fair and moderate Judges with Courts who are limited in what they can do by the rules made in Congress.

Tom DeLay defies the President on his pet issues and joins him against the Court system. He is trying to gain power over Article Two of the Constitution (defining the Powers of the Executive Branch) and Article three. Concentrating it in his hands. It is not about how well the Court's can do their job nor about 'greedy trial lawyers'. It is about concentrating power in Tom DeLay's personal agenda. If his agenda were a referendum would his voters know what it is?

The Daily DeLay up for national recognition

2005-02-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

The folks at Daily DeLay, who essentially forced the Repbulicans to take back the DeLay protection rule (get out of jail free card), is up for National recognition for their good work. They need thinking people (all of us) to go the the site of the voting, go to the bottom of the site page, and make a worthwhile comment. (Click here to vote) Take the time to do this. It could underscore how important this single issue is to all of us.

Frisco gets rail while DeLay gives Houston the shaft

2005-02-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

On the subject of how DeLay and his local crony Culberson are insisting that Houstonians sit in traffic jams instead of having mass transit available, Off-the-Kuff covers it just fine. DeLay allows San Francisco to get funding that he claims is unavailable to Houston. It is possible but he just won't allow Houston to develop alternative transportation planning. Read Kuff's article about how devious this is.

They fights wars for all the noble principles but not for the basic needs of people.

2005-02-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

The disconnect between all the great pronouncements of Tom DeLay and the administration and what they actually do is that none of their agenda ever actually takes into account what would actually be best for people. If the World is a safer place because Sadam Hussein in not in power are the Iraqi people or any of us actually any better off than we were 2 years ago. The World' great economic powers all march to a different tune than Tom DeLay and our power elite. Delay's agenda has nothing to do with helping the people who live here or anywhere else.

At a world summit the moral failure to address actual problems of the people of the planet were addressed. Here is an excerpt from one reporters account of the events.

In his Inaugural Address, President Bush vowed that ''all who live in tyranny
and hopelessness'' will find a staunch friend in the United States. For all
those around the world who live in poverty, however, he made no such promise.
Tyranny is a very great evil, and freedom a very precious good; but there
are other evils, and other goods. The week after the president's address,
Europe's three major leaders -- Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder
-- addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Blair, as ever,
defended President Bush's self-assigned mission of democracy promotion. But he
went on to say that ''if America wants the rest of the world to be part of the
agenda it has set, it must be part of their agenda, too.'' And Blair, like
Chirac and Schroder, defined the core of that agenda very differently from
President Bush. For all three, strikingly, the great good worth striving for was
the elimination of global poverty, and the paramount means was an increase in
aid.
At a panel in Davos, someone asked former President Bill Clinton why
Washington seemed so impervious to demands to increase aid. ''Because nobody
will ever get beat for Congress or president for not doing it,'' Clinton shot
back.

The Bush administration has acknowledged this problem, and
thus moved the debate off the dead spot of aid-as-welfare, by establishing the
Millennium Challenge Account, which will funnel money to well-governed nations.
The program is widely hailed as a new paradigm for development assistance. The
administration has said it will spend $5 billion a year on Millennium Challenge.
Unfortunately, after two years the fund has yet to dispense a penny on actual
poverty reduction. . . . .

DeLay needs to learn what the needs of the people of his District are in order to claim to represent them.

Chris Bell on what's wrong with DeLay

2005-02-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

The Daily DeLay cornered Chris Bell for a chat and reports on it tonight. Chris took on a challenge and showed no fear. Read the story at the link. Some people talk the talk. Chris has walked the walk for us all. Read what he has to say about how and why he took on the Hammer and won.

DeLay won't help Houston Transit

2005-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

Off the Kuff, one of the best blogs about political happenings, is all over the failure of the Federal Government to provide Houston with transit funds that are given to other cities. You can catch Kuff's coverage by going to www.dist22pf.org and clicking on the Off the Kuff link. This is a situation like we have seen in the past where Tom DeLay can fail to protect Houston for its basic needs that everyone else gets, and then when it looks bad for him, he leaps in to try to get some white knight hero points. Let's see if he goes the hero route this time or not. His claims, that Metro did the submission wrong sounds like the pseudo sanctimony we always get from that crowd. Hard to give it much credibility. If all of the other major cities have 21st century transportation systems in the works, stomping Houston down on the priority list makes little sense unless you are just so out of touch with what it is like to live here, that you just don't understand the need. It certainly supports the notion that only the highway interests, who contibute most heavily to the most powerful man in Congress, get their needs met first.

With Mafia tactics as a role model where are our ethics?

2005-02-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

I am sure that Public Citizen did not provide this in response to my last blog but here is another quote nonetheless. You can catch Public Citizen's reporting by going to www.dist22pf.org and clicking on the Public Citizen link.

The latest from the mouth of Tom DeLay: "Honestly, I can't tell you how much easier it is to squeeze votes out of these freshmen (lawmakers) or money out of big donors when they think if they say 'no,' I'm going to put a horse head in their bed or something." Read the rest of story at ABC News.

Notable but barely quotable

2005-02-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

DeLayWatch From the District is trying to pin down some alleged quotes of the bug-man that have been circulating in the Dump DeLay subculture. We have verification for some of the best quotes. We thought that this would be a good forum to find new quotes and their sources.

Two of the verifiable quotes we have are:

"Education is not my job." from the Clear Lake High School debate last October.

"It has never been proven that air toxics are hazardous to people." From the Houston Chronicle.

Three quotes we have heard a lot, but need their sources are:

Tom Delay standing in a sweat shop in Saipan saying: "This is the petrie dish of free enterprise." I heard that there may be a video of this.

"If I can't pronounce the name, he probably doesn't belong in this country."

The story of his explanation for his inability to get hired in the military during the Viet Nam war, because he was less qualified than all of the minorities who got the good jobs.

Consider this a cattle call, if not a clarion call, to all who have favorite quotes you would like to share. The very best discovery will entitle the reporter to a free pass to spend a day in Tom DeLay's District breathing the most polluted air in America.

Common Cause seeks DeLay Resignation

2005-02-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

In case you have not yet seen the notices Common Cause has been circulating the idea of a petition asking the Congressman to resign. After some thought it seems like it isn't a bad idea. Anyone reading this might give some thought to going to the site and adding your name.

http://www.commoncause.org/joinDeLayPetition

Who knows, if nothing else it will help a good cause gain more attention to the problem and help them raise money. What could be bad about that.

The Malleck Manual dusted off

2005-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

When President Nixon discovered that he had to follow the law and that public employees had rights he was so upset that he commissioned a study. He couldn't believe that he could not 'make' people do what he wanted when it was inconsistent with their official duties. So the Malleck (sic) Manual was born. It detailed quasi-legal ways to get around obstinate government employees who wouldn't 'play ball'. The following story in today's Washington Post presents an example that is right out of the Malleck Manual. Failing to obtain the type of behavior that the administration wanted from certain employees in the District of Columbia they simply moved their job to other cities. (Perhaps Detroit). The recalcitrant staff were told go or be fired. This is actually similar to what you might see in the private sector except that there has been a time honored effort to protect agencies and those entrusted with the work of the people from the troubles that occur when the politics of the top office changes. It used to be considered undesirable to turnover the whole government when the White House changed hands. This is a Classic Tom DeLay style power move to achieve more control and power by a move that is illegal in principle but achieved by smoke and mirrors. Then, with righteous sanctimony, claim that the move was appropriate. Watch for more of these moves as there are fewer and fewer checks and balances over the power of DeLay and the White House.

washingtonpost.com
Reorganization of Special Counsel's Office Raises Concerns in Congress
By Stephen BarrTuesday, February 1, 2005; Page B02

Six House Democrats yesterday asked the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, to investigate a reorganization at the Office of Special Counsel, headed by Scott J. Bloch.

The House members, in a letter to GAO, said they wanted "to learn more about the rationale" for actions taken by Bloch, including his order requiring 12 District-based employees to accept reassignment to field offices or face dismissal.

It is not always the large scale moves that you have to watch. It is the subtle machinations behind the scenes where real power is often stolen.

It C O U L D happen ! ! Unredistricting

2005-01-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

One of the experts for the State of Texas explains why the U.S. Supreme Court might be positioned to rule that Tom DeLay's Gerrymandering dalliance in Texas is/was illegal and violated the U.S. Constitution. Take a look at the Burnt Orange Report. http://www.burntorangereport.com/archives/003133.html

How stupid do they think we po folk are?

2005-01-26T04:14:00.000-08:00

Isn't it ironic that the Houston Chronicle ran a Washington Post story with the title:

U.S. coffers hemorrhaging from increased war spending
Bush's request for $80
billion more would set a deficit record

on the same day that I received my very first official U.S. Government franked mail piece from Tom DeLay touting how happy I should be that HE (all by himself?) had given me tax breaks. They think that I am soooo stupid that I won't know that the tax break caused the deficit. He thinks that I won't notice when they slice critical programs to help our military and our veterans to adjust for the deficit. They think that the 10% unemployed will not regret their missing unemployment benefit. They only way that the extreme right can impose their unfree market, steal the capital, theft of our rights, is to put this babble out as though it were good news.

Retail outlets will often raise their prices just before a sale. Then the sale price is not such a great bargain. Bush's promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 seems just as devious when he is hiking the deficit up so high that the halved deficit will be the same as the whole deficit is today.

Jefferson had it going on

2005-01-25T03:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a quote that a KOS contributor attributes to Thomas Jefferson. If he didn't say it he should have. I like it so much I am going to leave it posted until I fail to verify its bona fides. It rings true. The more things change over the years the more they seem to stay the same. Though the task at hand may seem daunting we can make Democracy work and will be all the better for the process.

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt...If the game runs sometime against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."
-Thomas Jefferson, 1798
Oh Tom though we hardly knew you.

Did he really say that

2005-01-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

In talking with someone who has followed Tom DeLay's antics in office I was told that Tom DeLay once said: "If I can't spell the name he probably doesn't belong in this Country". Anyone who can give me the context and the source of the quote would earn 10 dump DeLay points.

Pour it on

2005-01-13T20:41:00.000-08:00

Following the recent election it is evident that there is significant dissatisfaction in the 22nd Congressional District with how the current Congressman conducts his representation of the interests of the people of the District. Voters who gave thought to their vote and declined to enter a straight ticket ballot tended to favor the challenger over the incumbant. The fact that more people voted for the top of the Repbulican ticket than for the Republcan Congressman means that many Republicans in the District could no longer support the actions of the incumbant. This forum will serve as a sounding board for people who want to bring into the open the type of actions that would explain why people who want good representation in this Congressional District should examine the value of supporting this Congressman in the future. This blog will trend to an open publication policy allowing a wide range of comment regarding issues of the conduct of the current Congressman. The world community is hereby invited to let us know your views of the Majority Leader of the U.S. Congress, Tom DeLay.