Category Archives: Scandalized!

There’s a letter to the editor in the Chron today about Tom DeLay and giving to charity that merits reprinting here: Politics of Tom DeLay’s charity [Regarding the Chronicle’s Nov. 14 article, Some doubt DeLay’s sincerity with charity:] U.S. Rep. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Can you imagine how proud this guy‘s parents must be? The United States National Republican Congressional Committee has selected Amit Pradhan, an ex-student of St Vincent’s School and Nowrosjee Wadia College, for its prestigious National Leadership award. Pradhan, who is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Does this guy do anything that doesn’t smell funny? AUSTIN — On the eve of the federal trial that could enhance Republican congressional power, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay plans to scoop up re-election cash at an Austin lobby … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Criminy. There’s just no end to the ways that Tom DeLay will go to raise money in secret and in avoidance of campaign finance laws. Now he’s using charity as a cover. It is an unusual charity brochure: a 13-page … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hey, guess what? You may have already won a free telemarketing call from Tom DeLay and the chance to write a fabulous check to one of his political action committees! AIR FORCE CHAPLAIN James Helton says he was flabbergasted when … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hot dog! Tom DeLay’s insidious Bacardi-benefitting provision that he tried to sneak into the 2004 defense appropriations bill has been killed. House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), under pressure from the Senate, has ended an attempt by rum maker … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This ought to be fun. Two political action committees formed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to push Republican causes have failed to disclose required information about their finances, national watchdog groups said in a complaint filed Monday with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tom DeLay continues to catch heat for his shameless shilling of Bacardi’s corporate interests at the potential expense of every other company in America that would like some day to do business in Cuba. It’s so bad that some House … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Perry’s perks go to big spenders, says the Chron. Fetch me the smelling salts, quick! In a solicitation delivered to companies and business-related groups this week, the governor’s office asked for donations ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 to fund Perry’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales has been sentenced to four years in Club Fed for the mail fraud and tax evasion charges to which he pled guilty in July. The mail fraud charge stems from Morales’ lawsuit against U.S. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In case you’re bored with Enron’s shenanigans, there’s always Tyco, where former CEO Dennis Kozlowski sure knew how to throw a party. Jurors saw a videotape Tuesday of dancing women, half-naked male models and “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett at a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas Association of Business has finally surrendered documents to Travis County investigators who are looking to see if secret donations had been made last year that helped pay for campaign ads. Since January, the association has fought — and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Seems Tom DeLay is catching a little flak for his attempts to shoehorn an amendment favorable to Bacardi into an unrelated bill. Watchdog groups and some business interests have already objected to the Texas Republican’s efforts. Last week, four House … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The crew at The Agonist have put together a timeline of events in the ongoing Diebold electronic voting machine scandal. Check it out, and check out their initial report on why there’s such a fuss to begin with. It’s a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tom DeLay is coming to the aid of another corporate benefactor with a law designed just for them. The details are in this Roll Call article, which requires an account. Here’s the key bits, with thanks to AJ Garcia for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You’ve probably already read this scary Salon article about the easily-compromised Diebold voting machines. According to that article, the state of Maryland ordered a review of its purchase of the Diebold machines. Well, guess what? Turns out the state of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Salon has a thorough look at the life and times of Rep. Tom DeLay and his moneymaking machine. It’s pretty comprehensive, and more than a little appalling, so I commend you to check it out. One side note that I’ll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Notice anything similar about this Houston Press article from last week and this column in today’s Chron by their new hotshot Rick Casey? Me too. I can think of three possible explanations: Casey didn’t read Tim Fleck’s story and found … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tim Fleck does a great job showcasing Rep. Joe Nixon’s utter hypocrisy about his mold claim. Not only has he received preferential treatment, he’s actually helping to represent Farmers Insurance in a lawsuit filed by a church that didn’t get … Continue reading → Continue reading →

My faithful correspondent Alfredo Garcia has been mailing me regular updates on the case of Mary McCarty and Roger Stone. McCarty is a Republican County Commissioner from Palm Beach who was cited for election law violations as chair of a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This was in yesterday’s Chron, but I didn’t quite get to it at the time. Executive summary: A provision to limit a certain type of fee that insurance companies charge, which is factored into individual premiums, was stripped out of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s a Joe Nixon triple play in the Chron op-ed section today. An unsigned editorial wags a finger at the Houston Republican, while Clay Robison and John R. Cobarruvias, who appears to be an activist and the founder of Home … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More on the story about Farmers Insurance giving special treatment to legislators like Rep. Joe Nixon and other muckety-mucks that they thought might be useful to them. Basically, the mold manager that they fired, Isabelle Arnold, isn’t going away. She’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So there’s a story in the papers today (in the Chron and in the Statesman) about allegations that Farmer’s Insurance paid off on claims for mold-related damage to State Rep. Joe Nixon’s house even though his policy didn’t cover it. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The horses may be in several different counties, but Westar’s barn door is now securely locked. After revelations that Westar Energy Inc. executives may have violated federal election law with illegal political donations, the company’s board has banned corporate political … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return and will serve a four-year prison sentence. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said as part of the mail fraud plea, Morales admitted backdating … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Travis County DA Ronnie Earle’s investigation into possible illegal use of corporate campaign cash by the Texas Association of Business is on hold until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules on TAB’s claim that they have First Amendment protection. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now that they’ve discovered Westar, the Chron has finally gotten around to editorializing on it: DeLay denied any quid pro quo, and probably none was stated. But business interests focused on enriching themselves do not hand out lavish campaign donations … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“Beyond stupid” is a pretty good description of this: Declaring Dan Morales a financial risk to the community, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the former state attorney general to remain behind bars. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks refused to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Gunther Concept is still digging into Gregg Phillips’ background (see this post for more). He’s also still got Blogspotted links, so if this has scrolled off the top, look for the June 24 entry entitled “The Revolving Door of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Getting back to an old favorite for a moment here, the ongoing Westar scandal is knocking on John Ashcroft’s door: Ashcroft, meanwhile, is being asked by some liberal and Democratic groups to launch an investigation — either by the Justice … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Gunther Concept, which now has permalinks even if they are blogspotted, found a curious omission in this Sunday Chron story about Gregg Phillips, the $144K-per-year “leader of the most sweeping social services overhaul in modern Texas history”. Here’s what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two employees of the Texas Association of Business have been held on contempt charges for refusing to answer questions in the grand jury investigation of whether the TAB illegally used corporate funds in last year’s elections. As requested by lawyer … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A mere two weeks after the story first broke, the Houston Chronicle has finally done some reporting on Westar Energy and its generous donations to various Republican lawmakers, including Tom DeLay. In doing so, they uncovered a new local angle. … Continue reading → Continue reading →