http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/chris_bell_responds_TRMPAC_526By John Byrne | RAW STORY
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The former Democratic congressman who filed a successful ethics complaint against House Majority Tom DeLay (R-TX) last year told RAW STORY the ruling against a DeLay political action committee is a sign that DeLay’s case for innocence is hemorrhaging.
“Obviously he was hoping the judge would rule in favor of the defendants and he would have declared it a great victory,” former Texas Rep. Chris Bell told RAW STORY Thursday. “And now I think that he has to realize that his arguments aren’t going anywhere, and the web is getting bigger and bigger.
“I think it also has to be somewhat of a wakeup call for his colleagues that have already been indicted that their arguments could very well fail,” he added. “And if they do, I think that might motivate some of them to start spilling the beans about exactly what transpired.”
Today, a judge ruled that the treasurer of DeLay’s political action committee must return $200,000 in illegally collected corporate campaign contributions.
Bell filed a three-count ethics complaint against DeLay last year, and subsequently lost his seat after DeLay-engineered redistricting. DeLay was admonished by the Republican-controlled Ethics Committee on two counts: making remarks suggesting an energy company fundraiser affected his votes, and abusing his congressional power to have the Federal Aviation Administration track a plane containing Democratic legislators.
The Committee deferred action on a third complaint surrounding improper activity by DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC. Bell says he believes the ruling today will kindle that complaint, possibly forcing the ethics committee to revisit his complaint in addition to new charges DeLay faces in lieu of a lobbyist paying his travel expenses.
“Even if the grand jury were not to indict Tom DeLay,” he said, “I think there would be a basis for the ethics committee to take action on that particular count given the fact that a judge has now found the conduct was illegal.”
“TRMPAC was Tom DeLay,” he continued. “He created it, and he oversaw, it, and so for him now to pretend like he was blind deaf and dumb to everything that was going on is rather absurd.”
Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, the watchdog that wrote Bell's complaint, called for a reopening of last year's charge.
"The House Ethics Committee has run out of excuses for avoiding an investigation into Rep. DeLay’s involvement with TRMPAC," Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement.
Jason Stanford, who runs Texans For A Cleaner Congress and an opposition research firm, says Americans should ask themselves what DeLay's involvement is with Republican congressmen on a local level—an effort advocated by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“We’re not surprised here in Austin," Stanford said. "But people all around the country are just getting to know Tom Delay. People are going to have to ask themselves: If he bought a legislature in Texas, what is he doing with my congressman?"
DeLay has sought to distance himself from the committee he created, which has been an major fundraising engine for Texas Republicans.
DeLay has said attacks on his character are attacks on the “free-market” agenda he has pursued, and asserts he has done nothing wrong.
“Democrats have made clear that their only agenda is the politics of personal destruction, and the criminalization of politics,” DeLay’s office asserted in an email to his Texas supporters in April. “They hate Ronald Reagan conservatives like DeLay and they hate that he is an effective leader who succeeds in passing the Republican agenda.”
Of Bell, he remarked, “The Chris Bell matter further exposed the lack of due process in ethics matters.”
Conservatives maintain the push to investigate to DeLay is a coordinated effort by liberals and Democrats to tarnish DeLay’s name and depose him as leader while concurrently seeking to regain control of the House.
DeLay deputy whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) told Roll Call critics are “essentially attempt[ing] to derail what we in the majority are trying to do. This is more than just Tom DeLay; this is the Democrats trying to regain majority status.”
Bell said he hopes DeLay will remain in office until 2006, allowing his constituency to vote in a “referendum” on his actions.
“I certainly want Tom DeLay to stay in office until at least 2006, and I would like the next election to be a referendum on his conduct,” Bell remarked. “For all intents and purposes, Tom DeLay is the leader of the Republican party. It’s his agenda that’s being acted upon in Washington.”
“Given everything,” he continued, “his extremist agenda, his unethical conduct, put all that together and I think the American people will decide to go in a different direction.”
Bell says he is “leaning toward” a run for Texas governor in 2006. He plans to make an announcement in July.
DeLay has not been charged with a crime and congressional immunity kept him from being forced to testify in the suit. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats in Congress are expected to pounce on the long-awaited ruling.
“This is even more smoke around Tom DeLay's ethical lapses,” a senior Democratic aide told RAW STORY. “If the Ethics Committee was functional, they could get to work to find the fire. The Republicans should stop playing games with the Ethics Committee staffing issues and get to work on its investigations.”