The old adage of “it’s who you know and not what you know” that will get you ahead is never more prevalent than today especially when it comes to our elected officials. I used to think that they only talked out both sides of their mouths but now I’m finding out that they speak out of any bodily orifice they can find especially when their palms have been greased with green stuff.
I was naïve in thinking that they represented their constituents but now realize that they represent the constituents that give them the most money and/or gifts. I shouldn’t have been that naïve knowing that many are lawyers and it’s been said that lawyers are lower than whale s—t. Because of their legal expertise they manage to circumvent all rules and regulations when it comes to the ethics of their elected office. What body of people is more suited in understanding how to get around the law? Answer - The people that write them.
My stomach turned the other night as I watched Tom DeLay, who was indicted in Texas last fall on unrelated political money laundering charges, speaking. I couldn’t help but think of all the times he projected himself as this highly moral man fighting for issues such as keeping Terry Schiavo alive. I wonder what self-interest group was propping him up then. I’m sure he'll have people that will come out and say what a great person he was, especially Susan Hirschmann. She was one of his former staffers who racked up $85,000 in travel in 26 months. I too would say that you were a good man if I got to spend months away from Capitol Hill, visiting exotic international locales while conferring with heads of state and staying at Oceanside resorts — most of the time with my lobbyist spouse in tow.
Over the course of 26 months, Hirschmann was away from Washington, on at least 90 days of free travel. It included four days in Orlando to learn about amusement park industry safety issues; a seven-day jaunt to Italy for a conference and a week in Hawaii for an aviation summit.
If this is what Tom’s aide got, I wonder what Tom and his wife received? Do you think it was anything less? His wife and daughter have long been on the payroll of several of the political organizations he controls. Friends and family of congressmen have done this kind of work for a long time, but they don't normally rake in the sums that Christine DeLay and Danielle DeLay Ferro did: $500,000 in four years.
The man that was once known as the” hammer” has now become the nail. He leaves his political office with much dirty linen behind. Here’s a man that has no regrets for what he’s done and will continue to work on the other side of the political fence. He will probably join the pimps that are called lobbyists.
Tom DeLay has done nothing to change my opinion of Texas and anything related to Texas. This started as kid when President Kennedy was assassinated in Texas, and continued with his successor Lyndon Johnson who I always felt had something to do with the assassination. It continued with my hatred for the Dallas Cowboys and I especially didn’t like them being called “America’s team.”
Even though I have singled out Republican Tom Delay, I have no feelings for either party since there are bad apples in both camps as witnessed by a recent study that found that over a 5½-year period ending in 2005, members of Congress and their aides took at least 23,000 trips — valued at almost $50 million — financed by private sponsors, many of them corporations, trade associations and nonprofit groups with business on Capitol Hill.
What people in this country should be clamoring for are issues such as term limits, campaign reform when it comes to contributions and enforcing the laws that are currently on the books when it comes to ethics. Just because someone wears a suit, it doesn’t make them any better that the poor working stiff that wears work clothes.
Let’s not forget that elected officials are public servants. They are supposed to serve the people and not rip them off.
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