E-mails show DeLay office knew
Abramoff arranged golf trip financing

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Prosecutors have e-mails showing Rep. Tom DeLay's office knew lobbyist Jack Abramoff had arranged the financing for the GOP leader's controversial European golfing trip in 2000 and was concerned "if someone starts asking questions."

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting free trips from lobbyists. DeLay, R-Texas, reported to Congress that a Republican advocacy group had paid for the spring 2000 trip that DeLay, his wife and top aides took to Scotland and England.

The e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show DeLay's staff asked Abramoff — not the advocacy group — to account for the costs that had to be legally disclosed on congressional travel forms. DeLay's office was worried the group being cited as paying the costs might not even know about them, the e-mails state.

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Well, I'm not sure if violating House ethics rules means that DeLay broke the law per se, but, if not a smoking gun, it's definitely evidence that DeLay is a corrupt, lying scumbag and that the entire country is better off with him out of public service. Of course, as I'm sure you already know, I'm quite certain myself that DeLay goes beyond being simply a bad man straight into criminality. That is, he's certainly a criminal, and, if there's any justice, he'll be behind bars in the next few years. I mean, the guy was essentially extorting bribes from lobbyists for legislation: he didn't simply accept bribes; he actively sought them out, demanding them even, as a condition for allowing lobbyists to simply communicate with Republican lawmakers. If there's not a law against that, there ought to be. Tom DeLay's tenure in Congress went a long way toward destroying our one-time democracy.

If I believed in Hell, I just know there would be a special place there for him.

UPDATE: Duh. If DeLay had to "legally disclose" who paid for the trip, but lied about it, then he certainly broke the law. Book 'em Danno.

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