NOVEMBER 22, 2003 - WASHINGTON, D.C. --
A Texas resident presented a petition on Friday to the two top
Congress members of the House Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct related to the behavior of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,
R-Sugar Land. Some 2,200 Americans – including some fellow
Republicans fed up with DeLay’s tactics - have signed a petition
requesting that DeLay be expelled from the House of Representatives
for misconduct and violation of House rules, especially the first
rule of the House Code of Ethics.
That first rule states, "A member, officer, or
employee of the House of Representatives shall conduct himself at
all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of
Representatives."
"Tom DeLay has not behaved in a manner that
‘reflects creditably’ on the House or on our country," said Jackson
Thoreau, 44, a freelance writer who wrote the petition and presented
it to aides to the House committee members. "He led the partisan
power grab in Texas this year to gain more Republican seats through
redistricting eight years before the state was scheduled to do so.
That process forced Texans to waste millions while healthcare,
education and other needs went unmet. And that’s just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to DeLay’s pattern of abuses and disgraceful
conduct."
Other examples of DeLay’s abuses in the
petition include:
* DeLay obstructed justice for low-paid
sweatshop workers on the island of Saipan by taking large campaign
contributions from Saipan's chief lobbyist and blocking any
Congressional investigation of the appalling conditions there.
* DeLay obstructed justice by lying to the FBI
when he charged that the reporter who broke the Henry Hyde adultery
story in the 1990s had been working with the White House to expose
Hyde.
* During a deposition for a lawsuit filed by a
former business partner in the pest company in 1994, DeLay lied that
he had not been an officer of the company for two or three years. On
congressional financial disclosure forms filed in 1995, he listed
himself as chairman of the company’s board of directors.
* In 1997, DeLay actually shoved Rep. David
Obey [D-Wisconsin] and called him a "chickenshit" on the House
floor. That same year, DeLay tried to impeach federal judges he
didn’t like.
* In 1998, DeLay said that people with
"foreign-sounding names" probably aren't Americans.
Even fellow Republicans have signed the
petition asking that DeLay be removed from office, much like former
U.S. Rep. James Traficant was in 2002. For example, Vicki Hill of
Sugar Land, Tx., wrote: "Thank God someone else thinks the same
thing – he makes me ashamed to be a Republican."
And Mark O. Hammontree of Austin wrote, "I
will switch to DEM from REP over redistricting!"
The petition and signatures can be seen on the
Internet at http://www.petitiononline.com/tdl0000/petition.html.
(You can go there to sign it yourself, and please spread the word to
everyone you know who may be interested.)
Thoreau gave copies of the petition, as well
as examples of the signatures, to the offices of Rep. Joel Hefley,
chairman of the House Standards committee, and Rep. Alan B.
Mollohan, ranking minority member of that committee. He asked that
the committee, which starts the process of expulsion, open an
investigation into DeLay’s abuses.
Thoreau also distributed copies of the
petition to other politicians on that committee, to DeLay himself,
and to media members in the National Press Building and other
places.
