DeLay To Get Away With Fundraising Shenanigans

According to a story from The Hill, courtesy of DailyKos, Washington State Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA 4th) will be part of burying an ethics investigation into Tom Delay's (R-TX) fundraising tactics. To its credit, the Seattle P-I ran a brief AP story on the investigation, but failed to mention that a Washington State representative would be involved in the decision to let Delay off the hook.

Kos listed the members of the committee and their D.C. office numbers. If you live in Hastings' district, give him a call.

Doc Hastings (WA-4)
202.225.5816

If you live in another state, head over to Kos and see if there's a representative serving on the committee you can talk to in your area. If you live in the same state, but not the same district, call your own representative and ask them to please raise a fuss about it.

Wherever you live, check your local paper and see if they mentioned this conflict of interest in any stories they may have written. If they haven't, consider sending a polite letter with links to these stories, and be sure to mention the involvement of any representatives in your state who might be involved. Ideally, we can get a few members of the press to start calling their offices for statements.

This Working For Change article lists the donation amounts made by DeLay's tainted PAC to four of the Republicans supposed to be sitting in judgement on him. Hastings, for example, received $1,410 from ARMPAC in what the FEC report declared to be in-kind contributions. None have recused themselves. This should matter to everyone, if only because DeLay is one of the most powerful men in Washington, and his legislative agenda is what our representatives get to vote on.

So please, do something about it today. Even if you only make two phone calls or send out a couple of emails, it counts.