The
L.A. Times advances the DeLay story its next sorry step, uncovering yet another cynical scam. The story tells a tale of corruption right out of Mark Twain's
The Gilded Age. More below the fold.
Jack Abramoff used DeLay's office (and DeLay's congressional aids) to provide U.S. Government funds (a breakwater and an airport) as a bribe to get two members of the Marianas legislature to change their votes for speaker of the legislature. The new speaker they helped elect then went to the mat to steer a $1.2 million a year lobbying contract to Abramoff.
In other words, DeLay handed out pork to help drum up lobbying business for his "good friend", patron and junket master.
The ultimate pay off for the Marianas? Defeat of a move in Congress to increase the Marianas minimum wage, continuation of relaxed Marianas immigration standards so Chinese could be shipped to the Marianas to work for $3.05 an hour while the clothing they made in Saipan sweatshops could bear the Made in USA label.
This is every bit as cynical, cold hearted and racist as Abramoff's (and DeLay's) bamboozlement of the Indian casinos and is of a piece with that scam.
The big three newspapers have now each had major exposes of DeLay's antics in the past two weeks.
How many more of these scams are there? Who is leaking this shit?