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December 20, 2005
Delay's high-life
I know, this is minor as things go. Still, it's a bit hard to imagine Delay's mindset. I guess he thinks he deserves it all...
As Tom DeLay became a king of campaign fundraising, he lived like one too. He visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants — all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire.Over the past six years, the former House majority leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets arranged by lobbyists and other special interests.
Public documents reviewed by The Associated Press tell the story: at least 48 visits to golf clubs and resorts; 100 flights aboard company planes; 200 stays at hotels, many world-class; and 500 meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $200 for a dinner for two.
Instead of his personal expense, the meals and trips for DeLay and his associates were paid with donations collected by the campaign committees, political action committees and children's charity the Texas Republican created during his rise to the top of Congress. His lawyer says the expenses are part of DeLay's effort to raise money from Republicans and to spread the GOP message.
Put them together and a lifestyle emerges.
"A life to enjoy. The excuse to escape," Palmas del Mar, an oceanside Puerto Rican resort visited by DeLay, promised in a summer ad on its Web site as a golf ball bounced into a hole and an image of a sunset appeared.
The Caribbean vacation spot has casino gambling, horseback riding, snorkeling, deep-sea fishing and private beaches.
"He was very friendly. We always see the relaxed side of politicians," said Daniel Vassi, owner of the French bistro Chez Daniel at Palmas del Mar. Vassi said DeLay has eaten at his restaurant every year for the last three, and was last there in April with about 20 other people, including the resort's owners.
The restaurant is a cozy and popular place on the yacht-lined marina at Palmas del Mar. Dishes include bouillabaisse for about $35.50, Dover sole for $37.50 and filet mignon for $28.50. Palmas del Mar is also a DeLay donor, giving $5,000 to DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC in 2000.
Since he joined the House leadership as majority whip in 1995, DeLay has raised at least $35 million for his campaign, PACs, foundation and legal defense fund. He hasn't faced a serious re-election threat in recent years, giving him more leeway than candidates in close races to spend campaign money.
AP's review found DeLay's various organizations spent at least $1 million over the last six years on hotels, restaurants, golf resorts and corporate jet flights for their boss and his associates.
Come to think of it, he probably thinks he's already retired -- except of course he occasionally has to get some paperwork together for this formality called "elections."
Posted by zeynep at December 20, 2005 07:13 PM
Comments
Well, I'm hoping Ronnie Earle retires him to state prison :-)
Posted by: Paul Lyon at December 21, 2005 12:06 AM
Thanks for the post on DeLay.
There's so much corruption in Washington these days it's hard to keep track of Republican scandals. To some extent, I think Republicans depend on the public forgetting some of these scandals and cozy relationships.
Tom DeLay had an odor to him from day one. DeLay, not House Speaker Dennis Hastert, was perceived correctly early on as the real power in the House. It's rare that a Speaker of the House takes a back seat to someone like DeLay. It was a deliberate strategy, and in a way, the strategy backfired, and in more ways than one. Hastert was supposed to be the pleasant face of the Republican Party, the anti-Gingrich.
Posted by: Craig at December 22, 2005 12:53 AM
The similar excesses of the 1st gilded age, ironically, helped create the hue and cry for an income tax, and these characters have built empires based on conning people into believing they're making the tax code fairer to them.
Part of why I'm angry with the leadership of the democratic party is how timidly complicit they've been in the creation of our 2nd gilded age, created with borrowed money. When was the last time a democrat running for president talked about progressive taxation?
I wonder:do ignorant modern voters, weaned on cable television, even know we're supposed to have that?
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at December 23, 2005 10:13 PM