Parties Bicker Amid Abramoff Inquiry (Demos Say DeLay's Credibility Hurt)

[Khephra]

Parties Bicker Amid Abramoff Inquiry
GOP Lawmakers Dispute Democrats' Talk of Damage to DeLay's Credibility

By Susan Schmidt and Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 29, 2004; Page A07

The investigation of powerful GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business associate Michael Scanlon led to partisan sparring yesterday as a Senate committee prepared to begin a hearing today into the millions of dollars in lobbying and public relations fees the pair were paid by Indian tribes that operate gambling casinos.

Democrats contended that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ability to campaign for fellow Republicans has been damaged by news reports on the business dealings of Scanlon, a former spokesman for the Texas Republican, and Abramoff, and the indictment last week of three DeLay aides on charges of illegally raising political money.

Greg Speed, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: "This is another example of the growing ethical cloud surrounding Tom DeLay and his political operation. It's clearly having an impact on his ability to travel and support Republican campaigns. Just , DeLay had to go into virtual hiding while campaigning for Billy Tauzin in Louisiana."

Speed cited an article in Tuesday's New Orleans Times-Picayune headlined "DeLay's stumping for Tauzin is scaled back after scandal." The article said DeLay's appearance "was scaled back to a 1 1/2-hour private fund-raiser" and quoted a Tauzin spokesman as saying it was because the majority leader was pressed for time. The spokesman denied any connection with the indictments or other controversies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58186-2004Sep28.html

[MrBenchley]

1. Poor Tom DeLay--first they passed him over as RNC keynote speaker

and now he has to hide from the public....(snicker)

I loved a couple weeks ago when DeLay's press flack decried all this as "caricature assassination" (oh yes he did too).

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/07/13/national1059EDT0527.DTL