Bill Berkowitz
September 14, 2006

DeLayed and confused

Under cloud of illegality "The Hammer" attempts to rehabilitate his image

In early-May, when former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced that he would be resigning from Congress the following month, he delivered a letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert advising him that he was moving on in order "to pursue new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from an arena outside of the U.S. House of Representatives."

DeLay who had resigned his post as Majority Leader in September 2005 after a Texas grand jury indicted him on charges of campaign-finance violations tied to Texans for a Republican Majority, appears now to be reduced to sending silly e-mail to rally his troops on behalf of a conservative contestant on an ABC television reality show.

According to the Washington Post, "The Hammer," who had close ties to the disgraced and indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is no longer: designing some redistricting scam to guarantee GOP control of Texas' congressional delegation for ages to come; doling out hundreds of thousands in PAC money to Republican Party candidates; teaming up with Abramoff; or hustling votes in Congress for George W. Bush. Instead, he "is using his post-congressional clout to influence another election -- the viewer voting on ABC's ‘Dancing With the Stars 3,'" which features 11 celebrities and 11 actual dancers, and which had its season premiere earlier this week.

DeLay recently "sent out a mass mailing asking his friends to vote for Sara Evans [one of the program's celebrity contestants] because she "represents good American values."

At the same time, DeLay urged his supporters not to vote for television talk show host Jerry Springer, another celebrity participant.

"I am writing to you today in an effort to help a good friend of mine, country music singer and GOP supporter Sara Evans," who sang at the 2004 Republican convention " and "has been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and represents good American values in the media," DeLay tells supporters. "Let's show Sara that same support by watching and voting for her each week to help her win this competition. One of her opponents on the show is ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer. We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans." (For the complete email see here.)

Think Progress, a project of the American Progress Action Fund, reported that "Evans also sang at the 2004 Presidential Dinner, where Bush said that he "love[d] the voice of Sara Evans.'" Think Progress also noted that Evans appears in a photo spread as "Republican BABE of the Week" -- one week after Kathryn Harris graced the page – as well as in a picture with her husband, Craig Schelske, and President Bush.

DeLay's support for Evans may in part be due to the fact that her husband, identified by Alternet's Evan Derkacz as an "ultra-rightwing theocracy-supporting...failed Republican candidate and cute-as-a-button executive director of Americandestiny.com," is also a GOP activist. According to his website bio, Schelske "has vast experience in media, politics, publicity & entertainment [and] has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from [Pat Robertson's] Regent University & a B.S. Degree in International Business & Marketing from Oregon State University."

Schelske is currently the President of Gingerdog, Inc., "specializing in guiding the entrepreneurial aims for Sara Evans' entertainment career" and is the Chairman of the Alexandria, Virginia-based CRAIG PAC, which his website describes as "a national political action committee dedicated to electing Republicans at the federal and state level." The PAC aims to "assist candidates and Republican organizations in raising money and preparing for the 2006 elections."

According to Derkacz, American Destiny, also based in Alexandria, "is an organization that promotes a revisionist history of America's founding as a theocracy and dedicates itself to busting the ‘myth' of separation of church and state." American Destiny frequently "use[s] the discredited scholarship of ... David Barton," the founder of WallBuilders.

American Destiny (AD), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit group, was founded by Kendall Hewitt, who, according to the bio posted at the AD website, worked in "news and entertainment for an ABC affiliate news station, Country Music Television, and Gaylord Entertainment." He "presently serves as a Regional Manager for Compassion International, a child development organization dedicated to releasing children from poverty in Africa, Asia, Central and South America."

On the front page of its website, AD points out that it has received a $125,000 matching grant, but it doesn't disclose where the money has come from.

DeLay's entrance into the battle over who will reign as the program's top celebrity dancer caught another celebrity participant by surprise. "I thought that it was a joke at first," MSNBC's Tucker Carlson told ABC News' Jake Tapper and Artis Waters. And then he remembered, he said, "Oh, yeah, Tom DeLay lives in any irony-free world."

Carlson, not about to be one-upped by the political intervention of DeLay, solicited and received the endorsement of the Rev. Al Sharpton. According to reality blurred/the reality tv news digest, run by Andy Dehnart, Carlson "told the New York Daily News' Lloyd Grove that he asked Sharpton for the endorsement, because ‘Nobody turns out the vote like the Reverend Al.'

Sharpton issued an obviously tongue-in-cheek statement "praising" Carlson and "encouraging his supporters to vote for him:"

"We are living in trying and uncertain times. That's why now, more than ever, we need a strong leader who will stand up for what we believe. Better yet, we need a leader who will dance for what we believe. Tucker Carlson is just such a dancer. Watch Tucker do the cha-cha and then call in your vote to make sure he advances to the next week's show. You can call as often as you like. Remember: Voting in celebrity dance contests is not just your right in this country, it's a privilege...If you sit back idly and fail to perform your civic duty, lesser dancers could win this competition. America simply cannot afford that."

Sharpton also pointed out that he wanted "to balance the influence of DeLay and at the same time get a right-winger off talk television and help Tucker find another career. I think it would be a great contribution to society to have him as a cheeseball disco dancer than a talk-show host propagating right-wing politics."

No news yet from the Jerry Springer camp as to whether he expects any last minute surprise endorsements.

Meanwhile, back in Texas

Back in his former home state DeLay recently emceed Vision America's Heroes of the Faith Gala; a gathering of high-powered conservative religious and political leaders, according to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch.

An email sent out by Vision America's Rick Scarborough, pointed out that more than 500 Pastors, elected officials and supporters gathered at the Westin Galleria Hotel Grand Ballroom in Houston on Thursday, August 31 "to celebrate Vision America's accomplishments of the past year and to hear about the challenges of the next 12 months." According to Scarborough, "This year's Gala marked our seventh meeting in the past eight years, and it was by far the most impacting. Attendees included the Lt. Governor of Texas and the Mayor of Houston as well as dozens of Judges and State Senators and Representatives. Congressman Tom DeLay emceed the event and received numerous affirmations from the supportive crowd that evening."

In a pre-event communiqué, Scarborough pointed out that Vision America's "War on Christians Conference" in Washington, DC "was a phenomenal success gaining the attention of the national press and further establishing Vision America as a ministry that is significantly contributing to the national cultural debate."

In Texas, Republican Governor Rick Perry has ordered a special election for Tuesday, November 7, to temporarily replace DeLay. The winner of the special election will fill his seat until DeLay's term expires in January and then it will be filled by the winner of the general election.

According to the Associated Press, the GOP's Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a Houston City Councilwoman will run as a write-in candidate because the courts refused to remove DeLay from the ballot.

The September 6 edition of Slate's "Today's Papers" ran this interesting item regarding a Wall Street Journal story involving DeLay's wife:

The WSJ notes that the Justice Department is investigating whether former House Majority Tom DeLay's wife actually did any work to receive her $3,200 monthly salary from a lobbying firm [Alexander Strategy Group]. FBI agents have been interviewing former and current employees at the firm to find out if Christine DeLay ever actually came to work and what exactly her role was in the company. The Journal says this latest round of questioning shows the investigation is continuing and that the Justice Department may be trying to force DeLay to plead guilty by investigating his wife.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Alexander Strategy was run by a pair of Mr. DeLay's former aides: Tony Rudy, who pleaded guilty to bribery charges in March; and Edwin Buckham, who remains under investigation. The firm also shared clients with Jack Abramoff."

In last month's interviews, investigators also asked about $144,000 that Mrs. DeLay received from one of Mr. DeLay's fund-raising committees, the Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, which was housed at the lobbying firm's offices. Investigators also inquired about fees paid to Mr. DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, a longtime political consultant to her father.

Finally, in an early-September statement that should thrill bibliophiles across America, and clear up all the various mysteries surrounding the man and his family, DeLay announced that he would be writing a book about his life and career in politics. "This is a book that's going to be the history of my career, how it furthered the conservative cause, with my spiritual walk and what I think the conservative cause ought to do next," DeLay, a born-again Christian, told the Associated Press.

According to DeLay, the book will explain how "everything I've done in my career furthered the conservative cause" and changed the political landscape and culture of Washington. Scheduled to be published by Penguin next spring, and written with the help of Stephen Mansfield, author of "The Faith of George W. Bush," the book has a working title of "No Retreat, No Surrender: The American Passion of Tom DeLay." According to AP, DeLay "declined to reveal how much he'll be paid. ‘Not as much as I wanted,' he quipped.

Will DeLay's book reveal the unexpurgated truth about his dealings with Abramoff? Will it get into the whys and wherefores of the activities of Tony Rudy, the former deputy chief of staff for DeLay, who pleaded guilty this year to "a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive" the public of "the honest services" of House staffers? Will DeLay come clean about the shenanigans of former DeLay Press Secretary and Abramoff lobbying partner Michael Scanlon, who last November pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials?

Or would a more apt title for the book be, "Slipping and Sliding: The Hammer Dances Around the Truth."