Steerike Five! Yer Out!

Well, maybe.

Texan Republican Representative Tom DeLay is piling up more allegations of House ethic rules violations at a rate that is beginning to make my head swim.

Last week The Washington Post reported:

A delegation of Republican House members including Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea in 2001 from a registered foreign agent despite House rules that bar the acceptance of travel expenses from foreign agents, according to government documents and travel reports filed by the House members.

Justice Department documents show that the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a business-financed entity created with help from a lobbying firm headed by DeLay's former chief of staff, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on Aug. 22, 2001. DeLay; his wife, Christine; and two other Republican lawmakers departed on a trip financed by the group on Aug. 25 of that year.

The exchange group in late 2003 hosted three Democratic House members and another Republican on a similar trip. It spent at least $106,921 to finance the three-day trip in 2001 from Washington to Seoul by the Republicans, which DeLay (Tex.) and accompanying staff assistants described at the time as having an "educational" purpose.

Only last month The Raw Story reported:

A think tank which raised money by targeting elderly Americans with Social Security scare letters paid for more than $130,000 in travel expenses for the House Republican leader, his wife and his staff, RAW STORY has learned.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a highly controversial and little-known conservative think tank which has been sending Social Security “fright mail” for years, paid for two posh trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) in 1996 and 2000, each at the cost of at least $64,000.

NCPPR also gave $1,000 to DeLay’s legal defense fund in 2004.

The House Ethics Committee last year slapped DeLay's hand three times for ethic rules violations:

• regarding linking legislation to political contributions,
  
• regarding aiding the House candidacy of a GOP lawmaker's son, in exchange for the member's vote for a Medicare drug benefit, and
  
• regarding asking federal aviation authorities to track down Texas Democratic state lawmakers during a political dispute.

Up until now, the Republicans have been doing their darndest to protect DeLay. Washington GOP Rep. Doc Hastings replaced the troublesome Joel Hefley, GOP Rep. from Colorado. Hefley had presided over last year's rebukes of DeLay. Shame on him. A couple of other Republicans were also replaced by GOP leadership who wanted stronger champions of ethics rules Delay. They considered changing the rules so that should DeLay be indicted he could still retain his post. In addition, new committee members, Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, have clearly shown their biased support for DeLay by making contributions to a legal defense fund established by DeLay.

So, another week, another allegation against DeLay. No one will be surprised to hear of yet another sometime soon. Just how many more strikes does one lawmaker get to have? Maybe we have reached a turning point as The Washington Post now reports that Republicans are finally starting to become concerned by the ongoing allegations:

"If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred, and it's getting up there," said a Republican political consultant close to key lawmakers. "The situation is negatively fluid right now for the guy. You start hitting arteries, it only takes a couple." The consultant, who at times has been a DeLay ally, spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he could not be candid otherwise.

At least six Republicans expressed concern over the weekend about DeLay's situation. They said they do not think DeLay necessarily deserves the unwanted attention he is receiving. But they said that the volume of the revelations about his operation is becoming alarming and that they do not see how it will abate.

The House Ethics Committee is truly making a mockery of the enforcement of ethics rules through its continued support of DeLay. It is time that they send a message that such behavior is unacceptable and reprimand DeLay right out of Congress.