Energy Co. Bribery Scandal May Threaten Congressmen

[Robbien]

Emails and memos between Westar Energy executives and their Washington lobbyist suggest the corporation paid powerful Republican lawmakers to provide their company an exemption from regulation.

by Christopher Getzan

Jan 10 - A government watchdog group sent a letter to the US Justice Department last week arguing that new documentation presents sufficient cause for law enforcement officials to begin investigating embattled Republican power broker, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, along with other lawmakers and corporate executives, on charges of breaking a federal anti-bribery statute.

Public Citizen says new records released in the course of an ongoing House Ethics Committee inquest detail efforts by Westar Energy to obtain protection from certain federal regulations by receiving an explicit, company-specific exemption in legislation before the House of Representatives in exchange for contributing thousands of dollars to congressional election campaigns.

Before the proposed energy bill petered out in 2003, evidence suggests the requested exemption actually appeared in a draft of the law. Republican leaders later withdrew it after Westar came under investigation, according to documents reviewed by The NewStandard.

The Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) of 1935 prevents government regulated utilities from balancing unregulated "side businesses" on top of money made off captive utilities customers. Like Enron executives, Westar head David Wittig and others were looking to use revenue from Westar -- the government regulated energy concern -- to underwrite other unregulated business ventures.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1370

[Cocoa]

1. can the GOP make the ethics changes retroactive?

start with a clean slate, forget all this nasty stuff in the past.

[NYC]

2. Tom DeLay.

...A government watchdog group sent a letter to the US Justice Department last week arguing that new documentation presents sufficient cause for law enforcement officials to begin investigating embattled Republican power broker, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, along with other lawmakers and corporate executives, on charges of breaking a federal anti-bribery statute...

Who bets there will be prosecution?

[ananda]

3. For or against?

Do you think that Tom DeLay will ever be prosecuted? Cockroaches like that are mean, tough, and immune to pesticides like ethics and morality.

Sue

[Pachamama]

4. I do..I think this man oozes so much sleeze that even the GOP won't be

able to protect him much longer....Delay's karma is catching up...his time is running out...

:evilgrin:

[AlCzervik]

6. I agree totally with you

eventually the gop will have to sacrafice him.

[Just Me]

7. But, WHO in the "Justice Dept." is gonna go after him?

:shrug:

I guess Gonzales would HAVE to recuse himself due to his long political history with DeLay.

But, who in the JD is gonna prosecute during these one-party, neoCONimperialist times?

:shrug:

[Pachamama]

8. That my friend is the key question...But I think that the State of TX will

and its courts will pursue action and it will put the Justice Dept in a very, lets say "embaressing" situation....

:eyes:

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Gonzales recuse himself? Good heavens, why?

He's a Republican.

[sonias]

5. Scandal is DeLay's middle name

When will the repuke controlled Congress ever hold him accountable however. At most he gets another mild admonishment. Boy, I'm sure that will hurt. DeLay's beginning to collect those as trophies.

Joe Conason's latest article on Delay is also a good read.
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/conason.asp
DeLay’s Tactics Work On House Republicans
(snip)
What the latest rules reversal proves is that while Mr. DeLay may be crude, he certainly isn’t stupid. Blistered by criticism from editorial boards and nonpartisan groups, the Republican boss realized that he and his members are now vulnerable to the same moral arguments they once used to oust the Democrats from power. That danger was emphasized by a coalition of eight citizen organizations, ranging from Judicial Watch on the right to Public Campaign on the left, which gave voice to public outrage. Suddenly, as angry e-mails poured into their offices, the people’s elected representatives understood that voting to weaken ethics rules on the first day of the 109th Congress wouldn’t look so good.
(/snip)

Sonia

[oneold1-4u]

9. No seperation of power

In the "arena" today there no longer exists a seperation of powers as the constitution once established. The citizen as an individual entity is extinct, while all power is now in the hands of the regime.
Even a few Dems. are squating, even if the word is only SIT.

[newscott]

10. Delay walks through sh*t

And thinks it smells like roses.

The audacity of this guy is why he gets away with this crap.

How could anyone vote for him?

[candy331]

12. So now we know why Repubs did a turn about on ethics last week, some

slimy sleaze is evidently too hot to handle and Delay's dirt must not rub off.Trying to make it seem like they were honorable, but of course there is no honor among slime

[rainbow4321]

14. And MSM is already hinting that it will be the Dems fault

Note their need to say the Travis County DA's party. What they leave OUT of their description is that, per Texas newspapers, the DA has gone after and taken down more TX Dems than Repukes. BTW, here is a link to the dailydealy blog site:

http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/


http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak09x.html

DeLay will have to resign if Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle in Austin, Texas, brings an indictment against the majority leader. Resignation would be necessary under a rule that was just reinstated by the House Republican Conference.

[rainbow4321]

15. "How could anyone vote for him?"

Same way chimp got re-apppointed..one word...Diebold.

[SoCalDem]

13. The California energy "problems" in '01 were orchestrated

by Texans..from Texas...to benefit Texans..

why would they balk at another "scheme" involving energy and getting their favorite henchman "re-elected"??

Energy is a DIRTY business, and not because of the coal dust or oily residue.. It's dirty because we ALL need it..NONE of us can produce our own, and we MUST buy from monopoliers that are privately owned by scoundrels..

There was a time when individual communities OWNED their public utilities.. the water dept, the electric company, the gas company. They were not there to provide riches to "stockholders" or to weave golden parachutes to the top guys.

They were there to provide essential services to the community, and provide living wages to the people who worked there.