Editorial: The sleaze continues

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 3:58 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: October 10, 2004

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, known as the "Hammer" for his bruising way of getting fellow Republicans to vote the party line, has been on a roll lately -- a backward roll. In less than a week's time the House Ethics Committee has admonished DeLay on three separate occasions.

In the case that received the most attention, the Ethics Committee ruled that DeLay broke House rules last year when he offered a political favor to Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich. -- endorsing the congressional candidacy of the lawmaker's son -- if Smith voted for the Republican-sponsored prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries. This was the same legislation for which the Republican House leadership shamefully extended the roll call vote for almost three hours, giving DeLay enough time to either dole out favors or browbeat lawmakers into voting with him. The controversial and costly legislation was seen as a giveaway to the insurance industry and drug companies, both of which donate huge amounts of campaign money to Republicans, because it prohibits the federal government from using its enormous purchasing power to directly negotiate with the pharma ceutical companies to get the lowest prices possible.

It's just this kind of sleaze, which benefits well-connected special interest groups, that turns off millions of Americans to politics. That's why it's also so disturbing that DeLay's fellow Republicans in the House, despite the Ethics Committee's rebukes, aren't pushing for him to give up his leadership post.