CREW Assists Chris Bell (D-TX) in Drafting Ethics Complaint Against Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX)

15 Jun 2004 // Washington, DC, June 15, 2004 -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ("CREW") called Texas Congressman Chris Bell "a hero," after Bell filed an ethics complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct against Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The filing of the complaint officially breaks the seven year "truce" preventing Members from either party from filing complaints against their colleagues.

CREW, has been part of a coalition of good government groups — including Judicial Watch, the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Public Citizen, Common Cause, the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Campaign -- that have collectively called for an end to the ethics truce.

CREW assisted Congressman Bell in drafting the complaint because, as CREW's Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated, "no other member of the House has consistently shown this much disrespect for the rule of law and the honor of Congress and the country should thank Congressman Bell for his courage."

The complaint covers three areas: 1) DeLay's soliciting a bribe from Westar Energy in return for an amendment to the energy bill that would have resulted in millions of dollars in savings for the company; 2) DeLay's use of his PAC, Texans for a Republican Majority to launder corporate money, converting such funds into hard dollars that were donated directly to candidates for the Texas State Legislature; and 3) DeLay's use of the Federal Aviation Administration to track down a plane carrying Texas legislators who had left the State to avoid voting on DeLay's partisan redistricting plan.

Sloan said, "Only Chris Bell, a freshman Member of Congress, has had the courage to call for an investigation into DeLay's shameless if not criminal conduct — conduct that has gone unchallenged for years because of the fear DeLay inspires in his colleagues." Sloan continued, "Only Chris Bell is willing to suffer the inevitable personal attacks that will result from the filing of this complaint. Only Chris Bell is willing to stand up for the integrity of the House of Representatives. Only Chris Bell has been willing to say that the emperor has no clothes. This is what makes Bell an American hero."