Justice "DeLayed"

Forwarded to the blog by one of our own:


Dear Fellow Democrats:


We are all well-versed in the ethical shortcomings of Tom DeLay.
However, in recent weeks, a good deal of information has been
put forward about U.S. Congressman Lamar Smith, who represents a
portion of Travis County in his congressional district (21), and
his lack of ethics as it relates to Mr. DeLay.


Rep. Smith was recently installed as a member of the House Ethics
Committee, which is charged with investigating ethical complaints
against House members, including Mr. DeLay. However, it has been
revealed that Rep. Smith has helped raise money for DeLay and DeLay's
PAC, the very PAC that is at the center of the ethical mess surrounding
DeLay. This creates an irreconcilable conflict of interest with respect
to Rep. Smith and his chairmanship of the Ethics Committee. The
Associated Press and the Washington Post have recently run stories on
this very issue.


I urge all of you to speak out on this issue. Representative Smith
must resign as chair of the Ethics Committee and we should all urge
him to do so. Write to Rep. Smith, write a letter to the editor of
the Statesman or any other newspaper of your choice, and/or write
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. We must raise our voices on
this issue. We cannot sit by while the Republicans continue to
look the other way as Tom DeLay flouts the rules of ethical conduct
in Congress and violates state and federal laws regarding campaign
finance, all in an effort to destroy the Democratic Party. This
madness must stop.


Representative Lamar Smith can be reached at:


Austin District Office
5608 Parkcrest Drive, Suite 260
Austin, Texas 78731
512-402-9743
512-402-9867 fax
Hours: 8am - 5pm CST, Monday - Friday
E-mail: http://lamarsmith.house.gov/contact.asp

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert can be reached at:

D.C. Office
235 Cannon House Office Building
Phone: 202-225-2976
Fax: 202-225-0697
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/hastert/write1.shtml


The Austin American-Statesman contact info is:

Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 670
Austin, Texas 78767
FAX: (512) 912-592
E-mail: letters@statesman.com or www.statesman.com/default/content/feedback/lettersubmit.html


Democratically yours,
Chris Elliott
Chair Travis County Democratic Party