80,000 People Sign Petition to Investigate Tom Delay

Released: Sep 14, 2004 2:31 PM

BURLINGTON, VT - 80,000 supporters of Democracy for America are urging the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate Rep. Tom Delay (R-Tex.) and appoint an outside counsel to investigate ethics complaints against him.

Tom DeLay has done more than any other person to construct a system where our representatives sell the privilege of writing legislation to the highest bidder. The charges against DeLay filed in the Committee on Standards include trading favors for contributions, laundering illegal corporate contributions to influence Texas legislative races and improperly directing the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a political witch hunt to search for Texas Democrats.

And, four out of five Republicans on the Committee on Standards, have received over $35,000 from an arm of the DeLay operation.

The petition states:

Representative Tom DeLay of Texas needs to be stopped. He is at the center of a machine that launders corporate influence in our political process. And that machine reaches even into the House Ethics Committee that is supposed to be investigating its activity. Four of the five Republicans on the Committee have received money from the DeLay operation.

Today we demand that the House Ethics Committee appoint an outside counsel to lead the investigation of Tom DeLay.