At  http://www.politicalmoneyline.com  you will find a report about congressional travel.  Should you wish to devote a little time to sifting through these and other available facts, you will eventually come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of politics buried in the attacks on House Majority Leader, Tom Delay.

Or, to put it another way, a great deal of hypocrisy.

 For what it's worth, and in case you haven't understood what Delay is supposed to have been doing, this latest attack is about alleged payment of travel expenses by somebody who makes his living lobbying.  (Originally, standing in a congessional lobby, trying to talk to passing elected officials on behalf of some interest group.)  The National Rifle Association has people who do that. Farmer groups do, too.  Educational groups, industry groups, so-called environmental groups, trial lawyers -- the list is endless.  And unions, of course.  The money they dish out is legendary.  Sometime, look into the literary career of a famous Democrat leader of the pre-Newt congress.  Find the one who wrote a best-selling book that you can't find on anybody's bookshelf.  If you dig deep enough, you will discover that truckloads of boxes of that book were purchased by unions, and delivered to union hall back rooms where if they haven't been thrown out, they remain, unread to this day.

It's like the ancient time of kings, when people bribed those close to the monarch to get access so they could press their case, whatever that case might be.  And, if the king writes a book?  It will be very popular with some folks who never read a word of it.  And if the king wants to travel a bit?

If you use the link above, you will find that half the private money spent on  congressional travel comes from non-profit groups.  Since they don't print their own money, you can guess where the cash they spend originates.  You will have to guess, since the non-profits we're discussing here don't have to release that information.  For a street term that applies, here, try money laundering.

Delay, by the way, is quite far down the list of office-holding sojourners.  That fact alone should tell you that there is more to this focus on him than meets the mainstream media eye.  Or, the mainstream media mouth, anyway.  (That mysterioous, unheard "thing" is his effectiveness.  He is quite good at dismantling "progressive" government programs.)

It is our opinion at the magazine that regardless of the baloney dished out against him, Delay is pretty clean for a congressman, and will survive investigation.  Certainly, there are even some Democrats who are not happy about this business. They travel, too.  They are, according to the very, very liberal Washington Post, scrambling to cover their own travel behinds.  The implication here is that donations to their travel benefit which did not meet propriety at the time they made the trip are now magically transforming into financial gifts from more proper sources.

To us, the travel thing is of less interest than, say, the odd coincidence of a Nancy Pelosi contributor's subsequent good luck in receiving large financial advantage from the federal government.  It has to be just a coincidence, since liberal Democrats never swap federal dollars for campaign contributions.  We all know that.

(LL)

© 2005 Oregon Magazine