Part I: Tom DeLay's Axis of Influence

By Stephen Pizzo, AlterNet. Posted May 10, 2002.

Read Part II: DeLay's Judge Dread

Read Part III: DeLay's Godfather

Read Part IV: DeLay's Unregulated Pacific "Paradise"

"It is well known that Enron lavished money and attention on political figures all over the nation's Capitol. But for an insight into how carefully the company cultivated members of Congress, look no further than its efforts to please Representative Tom DeLay." (The New York Times, Jan 16, 2002)

By the time Enron collapsed, its tentacles had penetrated deep into our federal government. No investigation into just how deep would be complete without a comprehensive examination of House Majority Whip, Tom DeLay.

In researching this story, it quickly became apparent that Tom DeLay's deep and personal involvement with Enron was not an exception but part of a pattern of controversial relationships that reach back to DeLay's earliest days in Congress.

All these relationships were consistent with a far-right, free-market, anti-regulatory philosophy that DeLay has raised to nearly religious status and upon which he has created a lucrative and ruthless power base.

Among other discoveries, we found a startling contrast between the wholesome, born-again, pro-family image DeLay portrays to voters back home in Sugarland, Texas, and the controversial causes and companies he backs in Washington.

A closer examination of Tom DeLay seems particularly important now, not so much because of his Enron entanglements, but because of his pending political promotion. With the announced retirement of House Majority Leader, Dick Army, (R-Tex) Tom DeLay is widely expected to ascend to that important post, making him the second most powerful person in the House of Representatives.

From Bugs to Bureaucrats

When Tom DeLay came to Congress in 1984 as the Republican representative from Sugarland, Texas, he was widely dismissed as a lightweight. A quirky little man with squinty eyes and a hayseed drawl, he was quickly tagged with the unflattering description, "that little bug-killer from Texas."

But by his second term in office, the former owner of Albo Pest Control had wiped the smirks off those Yankee faces and earned a few more impressive nicknames. His friends call him "The Hammer," a title he earned for his never-take-no-for-an-answer lobbying style.

His enemies, defined as anyone to his political left, had come to know him as both ruthless and effective. They had lots of names for him too: "The Prince of Darkness," "The Exterminator" and "The Meanest Man in Congress."

DeLay's critics no longer dismiss him as a joke. His policies and positions on social, environmental and regulatory issues are extreme and far to the right of the mainstream. And, DeLay sees no difference between the personal and the political. Attacking DeLay's policies will elicit the same ruthless counter-attacks as a personal affront.

Nothing like DeLay's laissez-faire policies have been heard in Congress since the earliest days of America's industrial revolution when robber baron industrialists saw cheap labor as an indispensable ingredient for growth. A financial journalist (who asked that his name not be used in this report) described DeLay's free-market policies this way:

"If there were a capitalist equivalent of the Taliban, Tom DeLay would lead it. He has hijacked a kind of Reaganesque free-market rhetoric to turn back the clock on such laws as those protecting workers and the environment, and those that require transparency in business dealing. His policies have enriched and benefited a handful of powerful corporate and political insiders who in turn, have fueled his political machine."

Millions of words have been written over the last decade detailing Tom DeLay's many controversial friends and policies -- most recently his strong ties to Enron. But even the most shocking of these revelations has failed to stop or even slow his rise to power within his party and Congress.

Tom DeLay has become the Teflon Don of the radical-right of his party. Undamaged by criticism, legal challenges and ethics complaints, DeLay has only grown bolder over the years. While few in Congress respect Tom DeLay, most fear him -- and with good reason. Anyone who crosses Tom DeLay quickly learns there is a price to pay.

"This whole thing about not kicking someone when he is down is BS -- Not only do you kick him -- you kick him until he passes out -- then beat him over the head with a baseball bat -- then roll him up in an old rug -- and throw him off a cliff into the pounding surf below!!!!!" (E-mail between two Tom DeLay staffers)

Reading those words, one would think one were listening in on a pair of John Gotti lieutenants rather than employees of the House Whip. The message was unmistakably clear -- if you get in The Hammer's way, you get hammered.

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