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 a real shame, Senator Santorum once had political future.
Wow, we're going to trash a good conservative because he wants DeLay to answer the charges and come clean?
Santorum is a decent, moral man. If he believes DeLay, I appreciate that. But something smells here. We have to get over the knee-jerk reaction that all of our guys do the right thing all the time and all their guys are evil.
He is going to wind up in the unfortunate position of having the deathrats and the immoral media hate him for things he has said in the past, and the conservatives hate him for the pandering he is doing in the present. Of course, the will accept the pandering to get at us, Delay in this case, but they will laughingly slip in the shiv when he wants something from them.
Santorum is so worried about beating Casey in the senatorial election he's forgotten who he is. What a pity!
For both the Senate and the White House leadership to publicly contradict DeLay, then the chance of them standing by him if the going gets rougher doesn't look good.
Sen. Santorum has taken every opportunity of late to portray himself as anything but a conservative. I am disappointed by this change and doubt he will find long term support with his new constituency.
Spin that, Big Stupid Republican Government Republicans.
How soon they begin to eat their own. Democrats are rotten to the core but at least they know how to be loyal.
Too bad Santorum didn't have the huevos to call for the same for Pelosi.
I think its time to hang DeLay out to dry. Otherwise The Hammer's just going to stay in the news, stinking to heaven and hurting Republicans. Loyalty is well and good, but winning elections is more important. He's becoming an embarassment and a liability.
"Looks like DeLay's wife and daughter were on the take to the tune of half a million dollars.
Spin that, Big Stupid Republican Government Republicans."
Since they have (R) next to their names, it's OK, dontcha know?
STFU dodd. Stick to making waitress sandwiches with ted the drunken murderer. What a a-hole.
FMCDH(BITS)
They weren't "on the take." They were on the payroll and there is nothing illegal about it. The money came from campaign donations, not tax money.
Why should Santorum let DeLay drag him down? DeLay is the one that plays at the edge of legality and house ethics (what an oxymoron). He should explain his behavior and if voters in his district approve, they will continue to vote him in. Why should Santorum accept DeLays morality? What if DeLay had come out in favor of euthanasia or abortion, would you have wanted Santorum keep his mouth shut just because the guy is a Republican leader? I dont think so. DeLay built his bed through his take no prisoners style of politics. Let him live in it.
Santorum is running afoul. Come clean? Delay openly filed this with the FEC, did you know that?
or Daschle's wife or Berger's stealing classified docs or Gore's fundraising, or...fill in the blank.
Weak, pathetic, cowardly Republicans get played like a drum.
But then his wife and daughter are such great political consultants. They've gotten him reelected how many times? Well yeah they did get the seat gerrymandered with the rest of them in Texas so he would have to be outed as a gay or pedophile to lose but still Im sure they are worth every dollar (Sarcasm intended).
Exactly what the Dems are trying to do and without one thing being proven.
The attack on DeLay started after the re-districting in Texas. If they "get" him they will just start going after the next Repub leader.
It's called tacking toward the center. It's what people that dont live in Heavily Red states have to do get elected. It's also why Dems in red states are shown hunting and are constantly talking about God. What do you want, a constant conservative vote in the Senate or someone that throws red meat to the base until they get voted out. Pennsylvania is not Texas or Wyoming.
Hey I dont meddle in Israel's politics. Stay out of ours.
I am disappointed by this...so am I. Once again the democrats with the collusion of the MSM develop an all out attack on a Republican and our leadership folds.
Pelosy, Reid have much smellier backgrounds and instead of taking the opportunity to turn the tables on them, we go soft and help them destroy our people.
Why not give them headlines like "Santorun says Pelosy, Reid are crooks and Byrd is a racist"?
Many do. They just dont pay anywhere as near as much as DeLay. They feel a need to at least act like they arent ripping off the taxpayer.
So its fair to treat campaign donations as personal income and use it for personal vacations, new cars, etc? Campaign donations are tax deductible to those that wrote the checks.
I haven't seen anything indicating that Delay's wife and daugther are the "great political consultants" you say they are. The only thing I've seen is Delay himself saying they are, which, at this point, is a bit much to swallow.
I think he will be a WRINO. He used to be a conservatives conservative. Now, I think he's just as slimy as the rest of them and will do or say anything to be re-elected.
* You can't swing a dead cat in the senate room without hitting a senator that has family on the payroll. This is not unique to DeLay. That's why this crap is so bogus. *
I hate this arguement. Is this the way you raised your kids ("Come on... all the kids smoke a little.") We MUST hold our people, as ourselves, to a higher standard than "everyone does it."
First off delay was payign his wife and daughter 50k each over 5 years which totals a 100k. Hardly alot of money considering what other people in the beltway do. Hell look at harry reid doling out contracts to his relatives in the millions, or pelosi giving nice lucrative contracts back to campaign contributions. While what delay did isnt illegal it does smell of beltway and most of us here are dissapointed in him for acting this way but he by no means did anything illegal or anything out of the ordinary. Who the hell is santorum to bitch about anything when he has his own little incident with tax payers paying for his kids school.
The problem is that our republican leaders in washington live there far too long and become spineless wonders. They try so hard to be accepted by the beltway establishment since its overwhelmingly liberal and as such they pander and try to please them. The problem with that is nothing they do is ever going to get the liberals to like them and thats why democrats and the media hate Delay so much. He makes no bones about who he is or his political views, ie "The Hammer". If more republicans were like him and didn't give a rats ass about the media establishemnt or the democrats in washington maybye we'd actually get some things done. I mean look at what democrats did to us back in the 80s when they were in charge? When they were in charge they threw us out of commitees and the moderate RINO weenies just tried to get along with them in hopes of a few benefits of political office. The problem is alot of those RINO's are still around and in positions of leadership and as such they still act like their a minority in washington.
For god's sake we are the MAJORITY start acting like it and just ignore these whiny little liberals adn let them piss and moan and nip at our heels.
And that's supposed to be better? What exactly is the difference between $500,000 in direct campaign contributions funnelled into the bank accounts of your family members and a bribe?
No they are not. Check the tax code.
He didn't do that last time and he was elected. It is even less likely that he would need to do so this time now that he has the advantage of incumbency.
It's also why Dems in red states are shown hunting and are constantly talking about God.
You are assuming here that they wouldn't otherwise be hunting or talking about God, and instead that they only do and say what they deem necessary to win elections. If this is true, I suspect that this shallowness and lack of personal conviction is a contributing factor to the poor track record of east coast Republicans.
What do you want, a constant conservative vote in the Senate or someone that throws red meat to the base until they get voted out.
Lately Sen. Santorum has been neither. Republicans in the senate, and their judicial nominees, would be in a better situation right now if Sen. Specter had not been renominated regardless of the outcome in the general election.
Pennsylvania is not Texas or Wyoming.
With Republican politicians like these, it never will be. Merely attempting to be the lesser of two evils has never been a path to political ascendancy.
Four words: Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi. Since it's only fair to deal with scandals in chronological order, when those two have answered all the questions about their financial dealings, and have been held to the same standards as the Republicans are, then the 'Rats can start asking questions about DeLay.
What Pelosi has or has not done has nothing to do with DeLay. This "they are doing it too" garbage does not wash. If DeLay is dirty, Republicans should be the first to kick his ass out the door.
To say "We are no worse than the Democrats" is not a standard to strive for.
Except that DeLay's wife and daughter were paid from campaign contributions..not taxpayer dollars.
To hell with these run and hide their heads in the sand RINO's, they are a sad gutless lot. Why bother having a GOP majority when RINO's allow the dims to continue to set the agenda and run both houses of congress.
That was sarcasm!
True but how many members are so shameless as to spend so much on their family members? Can you find another house member who spends any where near what DeLay does?
Ethics, unlike morals, are based upon a relative standard. To say that Republicans need to hold themselves to an uncompetitive level would be absurd. Rep. DeLay should be held to the same legal standard of any other elected official. Anything beyond that is up to the voters in his congressional district.
Santorum should be calling for some judges to answer some questions. DeLay has not disobeyed the law, the judges have. Santorum's should be focused on them, not Tom DeLay.
Santorum should be calling for some judges to answer some questions. DeLay has not disobeyed the law, the judges have. Santorum's should be focused on them, not Tom DeLay.
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