A Word (Or Two) On Corruption

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has put out a report called "Beyond DeLay" which lists 13 members of Congress with serious ethics issues, people who are either under investigation or under suspicion. Two of them are Democrats and they should be booted right out of Congress if the allegations are true. I have no sympathy for corruption, no matter what side of the aisle it's situated. To me there is no difference between a Congressman selling his house at a ridiculous profit as an in-kind campaign contribution from a defense contractor, and a Congressman who commandeers a rescue boat and goes into his flooded New Orleans-area house to remove potentially damaging documents.

I will say this, however, and this may be a hyperbolic statement, but I do think that corruption in Washington has a salutary effect on the Republican agenda. Republicans argue for limited government. Every allegation of bloated bureaucracy, graft in the Beltway, and federal mismanagement only serves to further that narrative. I'm not saying this is intentional, necessarily, but clearly the reaction to bad government by many is that good government is impossible, and we must continue to shrink it. That's absurd, IMO, and an easy way to explain away the sins of the party that currently controls those levers of government.

DeLay just let loose on the "rogue district attorney" Ronnie Earle, calling this a partisan attack. I knew human cloning was dangerous, but I didn't realize they cloned Ronnie Earle as an entire grand jury. I don't think the attempt to play politics with this is going to work. If a guy used the RNC as a slush fund to funnel money to candidates for the state legislature, and they have proof, the criminal justice system will work itself out.

It is hard for me to see the House Republicans jettisoning this guy. Tom DeLay has given more money to his colleagues than anyone, perhaps in the history of the Congress. He's not going to go without a fight, and the idea that he beats this rap (which is entirely possible) must have the rank and file GOP Congressmen shaking in their boots. There would be retribution like you wouldn't believe. They're not even going to hire a new majority leader on anything but an interim basis, even though this process is likely to take a year or more.

At a time when the GOP is fracturing on issues of fiscal responsibility, immigration, and how to rebuild the Gulf Coast, the last thing they need is to have "The Hammer," the glue that holds this fractious group together, to lose his leadership role. He'll probably still keep power behind the scenes, but it'll be even harder for him to hold off the imminent GOP civil war.