Happy Monday everyone. This is going to be a busy week here at our office as we are all getting ready for our paper trail lobby days coming up on Thursday. As I mentioned yesterday, if you still would like to participate in it you can RSVP today. For more information on lobby day, click here, and you can also browse through our online forum on election reform, to check out postings from a number of area supporters who have been gracious enough to offer up accomodations at their homes for activists who are looking for a place to stay.
Now on to news, lets start with the ethics problems of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). According to this article from Washington Post's Mike Allen, they are clearly becoming a concern for the GOP members in the House of Representatives:
ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- After enlarging their majority in the past two elections, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members' travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year's midterm races.
In what Republican strategists call "the DeLay effect," questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders' troubles.
Among those endangered are at least two committee chairmen and several other senior members. Congressional districts that traditionally have been safe for Republicans could become more competitive, according to party officials.
All these Members of Congress would do themselves a huge favor if they all came out in support of our call for outside counsel, who would ensure a thorough and proper investigation of DeLay, operating outside his domain of influence and without any conflict of interest.
Speaking of Ohio, a major political scandal has erupted in the Buckeye State, surrounding Ohio's loss in rare-coin investments controlled by Tom Noe, a prominent Toledo-area GOP fund-raiser and coin dealer, just got a lot bigger. The missing amount is now $12M, and all of Noe's property was just confiscated. Here is an
overview from the Toledo Blade:
Tom Noe has outraged and angered the governor of Ohio, caused the President to return his campaign contributions, and his $50 million state-coin funds are in disarray.
But the Maumee coin dealer's biggest political victims might be Attorney General Jim Petro, Auditor Betty Montgomery, and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell - who are competing to become Ohio's next governor.
The three Republican officeholders running for governor have all received campaign cash from Mr. Noe and have been criticized for their slow reaction to the growing coin scandal.
Now they find themselves on the defensive, quickly distancing themselves from the prominent Republican campaign fund-raiser, who is facing multiple investigations, including a probe into whether Mr. Noe violated campaign-finance laws by laundering money into the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.
The New York Times covered this story last week as well. However, it's really the Toledo Blade in the mainstream press, which has been covering the story from all angles, including how the three GOP gubernotorial candidates,
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell,
State Auditor Betty Montgomery, and
Attorney General Jim Petro are involved in this major issue.
AMERICABLOG, have been on the Coin Gate scandal from day one, while citizens from Licking County, OH, via their blog
LicoPAC, have been covering the story through their local angle. After all the election shaningans in the Buckeye State, this is the biggest political scandal to hit the state decades. What was that saying again - as Ohio goes, so goes the nation.
Lastly, on a positive note on our efforts of taking pro-active measures to clean up political scandals involving big money and powerful politicians, here is the latest on
Connecticut clean elections campaign:
On Saturday, Rell's staff and legislators continued work on crafting an acceptable public financing bill before the session ends Wednesday.
"I really think they are very close," said Tom Swan, the executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group.
Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, said she believes the momentum is too strong to stop.
"What a revolution it will make in this place," Handley said. "I'm thinking of the insider power plays that go on here."
Stay tuned, we are all on the edge. As soon as we hear the latest from Connecticut, you will be the first to know.
