Muted Support for GOP Change Grows By Jonathan Weisman,
Washington Post Staff Writer
Amid Scandals, Some Republicans Push to Permanently Replace DeLay as Leader
Abramoff’s
interactions with DeLay and his staff — including lavish trips to the Northern Mariana Islands and the famed golf course of St. Andrews,
Scotland — has created considerable trepidation among rank-and-file lawmakers, House members and GOP aides say.
In addition,
DeLay was ferried three times in 2003 and 2004 on corporate jets owned by the company of Brent Wilkes, a California defense
contractor who allegedly made illicit payments to Cunningham in exchange for legislative favors. Neither DeLay nor the company
has disclosed the purpose or destination of the trips, which were billed to one of DeLay’s PACs at a commercial flight rate as permitted
under election law.
“The Scanlon thing, the Cunningham thing, I think you have more people waiting for the other shoe to drop,”
said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
Justice Department investigators are trying to link campaign contributions to official legislative
actions. Nobody knows how wide a net the investigators will cast, a DeLay adviser conceded. Such charges of quid pro quo are extremely
difficult to prove but very easy to level, in light of the large amounts of lobbyist money sloshing around Capitol Hill.
Even if
DeLay is never implicated, his return to the majority leader’s post would create political “havoc,” said one Republican House member,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The lawmaker pointed to DeLay’s decision in October to fly to Texas ahead of his first
courtroom appearance aboard a corporate jet owned by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
“The fact that he flew down on a corporate
jet for his mug shot, and not just any corporate jet but Big Tobacco’s corporate jet, that’s a double whammy,” the lawmaker said. “A
number of my colleagues say he just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand how this plays.”