Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny
1997 Russia Visit Reportedly Backed by Business Interests

Tom DeLay's transgressions - or if you're a Republican, errors in judgement - keep piling up. Now it has come to light that he took a trip to Russia at the expense of lobbyists, met with those lobbyists while in Russia, and voted in favor of those lobbyists, yet claims that he thought it was a legal fact-finding mission at the time.

This is the mindset we're working with here. A vacation that cost $57,238 would deter most Americans, yet he had no qualms about taking it. I know, it didn't cost him anything, and he had our best interests in mind. Yeah, right.

"One of the functions of the lobbying effort was to encourage U.S. policymakers to visit Russia and to learn more about Russia,"

At the time of his visit, the Soviet Union was heavily dependent on western aid and international banking institutions, such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And, suprise, suprise, after DeLay's visit he voted to replenish billions of dollars in IMF funds used to bail out Russia's economy, much to the chagrin of his conservative peers in Congress.

The lobbyists, who were tax sheltered off the British Isles and in the Caymans, paid at least $440,000 before DeLay's junket for consideration of the Soviet issue, yet paid less than $20,000 in the years following for the same consideration.

In other developments, The New York Times reported that DeLay's wife and daughter have received more that $500,000 in wages and fees from his PAC and campaign funds since 2001. I wish I could get my kin this kind of gig. I'm lucky if I can get a discount on video rentals where my kid works. The same can be said for most of the folks who voted for DeLay based on "values".

Still think these guys are representing our values?