DeLay's Ends Don't Justify His Means

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is a man with strong convictions. It's refreshing to see a politician who actually believes in something. But when a man's convictions become an arrogant determination to win at any price, then democracy itself is in peril.

DeLay is a conservative and so are most of the people in the 22nd congressional district in Texas that he represents. They elected him to fight for their values and he is right to do so. So when DeLay noticed that the Lone Star State's congressional delegation was comprised of 57% Democrats despite the fact that a solid majority of Texans had been supporting Republicans in statewide races, he had every right to try to change the congressional district lines in a way that would more accurately represent the political beliefs of most Texans.

The most principled course of action would have been to turn redistricting over to a non-partisan commission that could fairly balance the principles of competition, accurate political representation, and preservation of local communities. That is what Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to do in California.

Instead of creating a fair process, DeLay helped elect Tom Craddick and other allies to the Texas legislature so long as they promised to redraw congressional districts once in office. While this was hardly a non-partisan approach, there is nothing inherently anti-democratic about a raw exercise in partisan power. The end result is that Republicans control 65% of the House seats in Texas, which compares to the 61% of the vote that George W. Bush won the state with in 2004.

But DeLay crossed an ethical line in getting his redistricting result. He used corporate money to fund the effort to get his allies elected, even though Texas law forbids corporate money in political campaigns. DeLay's committee, Texans for a Republican Majority Committee, laundered $190,000 in corporate funds to the Republican National Committee that in-turn doled money out to Texas legislative candidates. All in all, DeLay's committee used some $600,000 in corporate money and failed to report the money as required by state law. Jurors in a civil trial will decide whether DeLay's treasurer Bill Ceverha broke the law, but the rest of us already know that what he did was wrong.

DeLay then abused his federal power by asking the Federal Aviation Administration to track down Democratic legislators who were fleeing Texas in an attempt to block DeLay's redistricting vote.

The House Ethics Committee admonished DeLay for his partisan use of federal resources. It has cited him for two other violations of House Ethics rules.

Rather than atone for his sins, DeLay cast stones at his Republican accusers. He sacked Joel Hefley, a principled conservative, as chair of the ethics committee and then fired the staff that had investigated his ethical lapses. DeLay pushed through changes in the rules of the committee that make it harder to bring ethics charges against any member of congress. This controversy has now brought the ethics committee to a standstill, effectively ending any ethical oversight for Congress.

Another ethical lapse has recently come to light. In 2000, DeLay took a trip to Europe. Trouble is, he didn't pay his own way. Instead, he let Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist and close friend, shell out some $70,000 so that he could have a good time. Abramoff was in the process of shaking down Indian tribes for $82 million to lobby on their behalf. After the trip, Delay voted in favor of the tribes on pending legislation. The following year, he took a trip to South Korea that was financed by a foreign agent, a violation of House rules.

Both liberal and conservative watchdog groups are now calling on DeLay to resign. A better solution would be if his constituents saw the problem and acted to replace DeLay with an ethical representative who shared their political viewpoints.

It's too bad that Texas law doesn't allow constituents to recall a member of Congress when they learn that he is not representing them with integrity. Maybe that's another lesson Texas Republicans could learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came to office after voters recalled the previous Governor in part for his ties to big money.