Yesterday was certainly a bad day for Tom DeLay.
First, a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- someone whom Tom DeLay called one of his "closest and dearest friends" -- on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.
As if that weren't enough, on the very same day that Abramoff was indicted, the Federal Election Commission criticized DeLay and his political organization ARMPAC for illegally using unregulated soft money for a federal campaign.
More on the flip.
Jack Abramoff is the third associate of Tom DeLay to be indicted. And as the House Ethics Committee looks into whether it was appropriate for Abramoff to take Congressman DeLay on lavish trips to places like the Marianas Islands, the shady characters and the controversy that Tom DeLay surrounds himself with are becoming more and more of an embarrassment to the people of the 22nd Congressional District.
Sometimes the old adage "You tell a person by the company he keeps" is very appropriate. I think it certainly applies here. Southeast Texans have had enough. We're tired of the shady activity from Tom DeLay, and it's time for a change.
Then, there's ARMPAC. ARMPAC says they have corrected the accounting problems in an amended report. Now, I understand making an amendment to an FEC report. That is not at all uncommon.
But the problem that the FEC found in ARMPAC's filing yesterday was more than just an accounting error. What they discovered was that Tom DeLay's political action committee used more than $200,000 in funds that were illegal to use in federal races. Put this together with the allegations that Tom DeLay's TRMPAC used illegal corporate money for state races in Texas, and you start to see a consistent pattern of questionable activity.
It's time to put an end to the embarrassment and scandal that Tom DeLay has brought to the 22nd District, once and for all.
I hope you'll join our campaign and help us build a grassroots movement across Texas, and across America, that will beat Tom DeLay next November.
We're going to need to work hard, every day, to get the message out to the voters. I hope you'll join our team, so we can work together to get the job done.
My family roots run deep in TX-22, and the good people down here deserve better than Tom DeLay. Thanks so much for your continued help and support. I really appreciate the efforts of the Kos community and the entire blogosphere to expose the truth about Tom DeLay.
Nick