DeLay "Defends" Himself

Hammer the Bugman sent an e-mail to his constituents--2540 words which could easily be summarized as "Dey got nuttin' on me."

One of the many cases of probable unethical behavior by DeLay was his apparent attempt to bribe and threaten Michigan Congressman Nick Smith into voting for the 2003 Medicare boondoggle. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) DeLay's "defense" against this charge is just to quote an ethics committee report, as follows:

“The Nick Smith Complaint”

Dismissed: “The issues raised by the conduct of the Majority Leader in this matter are novel in that conduct of this nature and the implications of such conduct have never before been addressed or resolved by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Indeed, the Majority Leader’s testimony indicates that he did not believe he acted improperly under House rules during his encounter with Representative Nick Smith. In addition, the Investigative Subcommittee believes that the relevant facts related to the Majority Leader’s conduct-described in detail in this Report - already have been fully developed. In the view of the Investigative Subcommittee, these factors mitigate against further investigation and proceedings in this matter.” (Oct. 4, 2004 Report, p. 43).

DeLay adds no personal assurances to his constituents that he did not bribe or threaten Smith--he just lets the committee's decision not to investigate further based on DeLay's testimony saying he didn't believe he acted improperly stand for itself.

The rest of his "defenses" are just as slippery. See WIIIAI and the Progress Report for further analysis of DeLay's e-mail.