ACTION ALERT: Help Common Cause Run DeLay Radio Ads. in Hastert's District

Hi folks,

We just sent out an email alert asking our members and supporters to help us raise $10,500 online so that we can purchase drive-time radio ads in House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) district. We need to raise $10,500 by the end of the week to buy these ads, which will urge constituents from the Speaker's district to contact him and ask him to appoint an indepdent, outside counsel to investigate the mounting allegations of ethics abuses against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX).  The ads will urge Hastert's constituents to drive home the message that he needs to demonstrate leadership by bringing in an outside counsel to investigate ethics allegations against DeLay and restart the stalled ethics process in the GOP controlled House.

You can view the text of email from Chellie Pingree, Common Cause President, right after the jump.

Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks again guys. -Murshed

Dear Common Cause Activist,

The congressional Republicans have shut down the ethics process in the House of Representatives again. Earlier this year, the "fearsome DeLay machine" reacted to three admonishments of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) from the bipartisan Ethics Committee by changing the rules to make it harder to investigate Members of Congress for ethics violations, firing the Republican Ethics Committee chairman who oversaw the 2004 admonishments, and purging staff who were also involved (2). GOP leaders, however, retreated in the face of our enormous public and grassroots pressure by reversing the rule changes. But now they are at it again, paralyzing the committee over staff vacancies and stalling any serious investigation into the mounting allegations against Majority Leader DeLay and other capitol lawmakers.

We need your help to break this ethics impasse. Three weeks ago we sent a letter to the chairman and the ranking member of the Ethics Committee, asking them to appoint a credible, independent, outside counsel with experience and stature in the legal community to investigate Rep. DeLay. We have heard nothing back, and the committee remains stalled by a stalemate over staffing issues.

So, we are now calling on Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to intervene, get the Ethics Committee working again, and see that an independent, outside counsel is brought in to investigate allegations against Rep. DeLay. We need your help today to take this message directly to Speaker Hastert by reaching out to constituents in his district. Specifically, we need your help to raise $10,500 by the end of the week so we can buy radio ads in Hastert's district urging his constituents to call his office and urge that he bring in an outside counsel. The ads will be aired repeatedly during drive-time traffic reports in Hastert's congressional district in the Chicago suburbs (IL-14). You can help our efforts by making a contribution today:

http://www.commoncause.org/ContributetoHastertRadioAds

Each of these ads costs $140, and we want to saturate the Chicago rush-hour radio airwaves for the whole week. So, can you help us raise $10,500 to get out the message in Hastert's district that an independent, outside counsel is critically needed to investigate allegations against DeLay?

http://www.commoncause.org/ContributetoHastertRadioAds

With your help we can start running our advertisements in Hastert's Chicago area district beginning Monday June 27th and continue them through the weekend leading up to July 4th. So, please contribute $280, $140, $70, $35, or whatever amount you can, so that we can take our message for an independent, outside counsel to investigate Tom DeLay directly to the streets and freeways in Hastert's district.

Speaker Hastert needs to step up. The New York Times called him out this week to show leadership in unlocking this ethics impasse and moving ahead with a DeLay investigation:

"It's time for Speaker Dennis Hastert to show some leadership by signaling that the ethics committee has a larger role to play than weighting the scale to favor Mr. DeLay. In the past, committee rules calling for a nonpartisan investigative chief were honored in the high-profile inquiries that dealt with abuses by Speakers Newt Gingrich, a Republican, and Jim Wright, a Democrat.

"Nothing less is acceptable now. Even Mr. DeLay is urging something be done as he proclaims his innocence and complains that the standoff is putting him at risk as elections near. His junketeering at the bidding of a favored lobbyist deserves a clean investigation."

We can't afford to roll over and play dead. Help us today to get our message directly to Hastert, reminding him that he has the ultimate responsibility for maintaining the credibility and integrity of the House. As the Speaker, he must take responsibility for reestablishing a functioning ethics review procedure and address allegations against DeLay in a credible and expeditious manner.

http://www.commoncause.org/ContributetoHastertRadioAds

We appreciate your dedication to holding public officials to the highest ethical standards. Your actions do make a difference. Thank you again for your passion and commitment to Common Cause.

Sincerely,

Chellie Pingree
CEO & President, Common Cause