Is DeLay Getting What McInnis Has Coming?

The New York Times reports that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action and campaign committees have paid more than $500,000 since 2001 to his wife and daughter (The Washington Post is also piling on). Former congressman and would-be gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis could face the same scrutiny if he choose to run for governor full-time, and is no doubt keeping an eye on what happens here.

This is one of the reasons that, while McInnis says he's in the race for governor now, we still don't believe he'll actually be on the track when it comes time to really start running (a point we also referenced in this post).

The major point here is that Republicans are hanging DeLay out to dry on this one, now that it seems as though there's too big of a pile to just sweep under the rug. If McInnis were to get close in a governor's race -- say, his polling numbers started to look good -- don't think for a minute that an opponent like fellow Republican Bob Beauprez wouldn't carve him up over this issue. The worse this gets for DeLay, and the longer McInnis floats his name for governor, the bigger the spotlight that turns on the former congressman from CD-3 (and by extension, the worse it is again for the Republican Party in Colorado).

Here's more on DeLay from The Times:

The wife and daughter of Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay's political action and campaign committees, according to a detailed review of disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission and separate fund-raising records in Mr. DeLay's home state, Texas.

Most of the payments to his wife, Christine A. DeLay, and his only child, Dani DeLay Ferro, were described in the disclosure forms as "fund-raising fees," "campaign management" or "payroll," with no additional details about how they earned the money. The payments appear to reflect what Mr. DeLay's aides say is the central role played by the majority leader's wife and daughter in his political career.

Mr. DeLay's national political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, or Armpac, said in a statement on Tuesday that the two women had provided valuable services to the committee in exchange for the payments: "Mrs. DeLay provides big picture, long-term strategic guidance and helps with personnel decisions. Ms. Ferro is a skilled and experienced professional event planner who assists Armpac in arranging and organizing individual events."

Mrs. Ferro has managed several of her father's re-election campaigns for his House seat.

His spokesman said that Mr. DeLay had no additional comment. Although several members of Congress employ family members as campaign managers or on their political action committees, advocacy groups seeking an overhaul of federal campaign-finance and ethics laws say that the payments to Mr. DeLay's family members were unusually generous, and should be the focus of new scrutiny of the Texas congressman.

Comments

[Von Doom]

The stench of McInnis corruption catching up with him at last. Paying his wife as his campaign worker for a non existent campaign. That's as rotten as it gets. As Dr King King said the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

[Donald E. L. Johnson]

So, has anyone put Beaupre, Coffman and Holtzman on the record as pro or con DeLay? If BB deflects the question or supports DeLay, won't that offset any problem that McInnis might have?

Does ColPols protest to much? Does it see Scott as the Dems' strongest opponent. Don't know because we don't know who the dead governors (Colorado Pols) are/is.

[Ralph]

Right Don, there's nothing to McInnis' scandal--which is really bribery. He's taking money from special interests, voting on their issues and personally receiving money for it (through his wife) at the same time. Yeah, voters will forgive that. It's all just part of the VLWC to tear down Scott McInnis.

[Phoenix Rising]

Don brings up a good point; if Beauprez stands by DeLay, he's going to have a hard time bringing anything up against McInnis.

[Roger D]

BB's bigger problem is his extremely close association and support for the Bush Social Security scheme.

It is one thing to be a loyal soldier (as he has been, voting a pretty strict party line), it is something else to be politically naive/stupid. He should know better. The kind of support he is demonstrating for the Bush scheme will be his downfall - either in the 7th or Guv.

Newt Gingrich is right, when he has counciled fellow Rs about the serious mistake of going down this road. He has said that support for this kind of scheme could/would lead to the loss of the Congress by Republicans.

[CMorgan]

If it weren’t so pathetic it would be funny! To compare Delay’s situation to that of McInnis is apples to oranges. Yes, McInnis paid his wife to run his campaign and manage all of the details related to the campaign. Mrs. McInnis, who previously worked at the State Capitol, was on the campaign advance team for President Bush, Sr., and had been a party activist for years was eminently qualified for the position, and received a considerably smaller salary than others performing the same duties. That was by design, which is not something you would do if your intent is to ‘laundry” money. And yet we are “outraged” that Mrs. McInnis drew a salary during her husbands finally year in office when there was not an active campaign taking place. Never mind that during that year she was complying with the law that requires the filing of extensive reports at the state and federal level, was busy preparing and distributing checks that were returned to campaign donors, and orchestrating, in terms of workload and records management, what amounts to the closure of a business….all allowable and perfectly legal activities by the way! I also think it’s funny that none of the citizens that actually donated the money are complaining or concerned about misconduct.

The FEC may not allow the McInnis’ to discuss the case while the trumped up, politically motivated charges are being reviewed, which is standard protocol for all filings, but I would hope that our more intelligent citizens would look at this issue in context, within the framework of 22 years of dedicated and impeccable public service, and make an informed decision. And if Beauprez is thinking about exploiting the situation for personal gain I suggest he be very careful. That can be a slippery slope, as some are already raising eyebrows about the news that his wife, in his absence, is suddenly taking on his former role of bank president. Public perception is a very tricky thing!

Bottom line, there’s no smoking gun here, folks. The FEC report will confirm that much. If there was it would have come out long before McInnis decided to leave Congress and rattle those who feared he may run for Governor.