DeLay’s capacity to excuse himself in every particular, and turn the blame onto his adversaries, is remarkable. In fact, he was chastised by the ethics panel in 1996 for raising money on the Capitol grounds and rebuked by the ethics committee in 1999 for threatening a trade association with mayhem if they persisted in their plan to hire a former Democratic congressman as their president (they did, and two treaties were held up for months in retaliation). In both ethics cases, the actions were bipartisan, as was the subsequent series of three rebukes on separate matters issued by the ethics panel in 2004. As for the lawsuit, it was initiated as a result of DeLay’s dealings in his pest control business, Albo, which had been troubled for years with tax problems, and it was brought by his former partner, a lifelong Republican.
I will admit here a personal experience with Tom Delay's fundraising tactics which does color my attitude towards Delay. In 2003-04, I kept getting voicemails about some group seeking to give me some sort of honor. When a live person finally caught up with me, I learned that they were working for one of Delays' PAC's. I explained in no uncertain terms that I had never voted in a Republican primary, would never vote in a Republican primary and certainly had no use for his boss or his boss's ideas. I still think any Republican dumb enough to try and solicit funds from me is too dumb to be running the country.
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