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From the NewsMax.com Staff
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For the story behind the story...
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005 12:50 a.m. EDT
Dem Junketeers Make DeLay Look Like Piker
Reporters are working overtime trying to convince their readers that three trips abroad taken by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were suspicious because they were paid for by special interests.
But if the same standard was applied to DeLay's House colleagues, more than a few Democrats would find themselves facing accusations of rampant corruption.
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In mid-March - before the Texas Republican became the media's GOP target du jour - the Daily News surveyed the most prolific junketeers in the House's New York State delegation - and it turns out that DeLay can't hold a candle to this crew.
Those with an insatiable wanderlust include:
Democrat Maurice Hinchey, who - according to the News - "has clocked more miles than the other 28 members of [New York] state's delegation." The well-traveled liberal took 27 trips costing private groups $157,000 over the past five years.
And Hinchey traveled in style; luxuriating at resorts like the Four Seasons in Punta Mita and other sumptuous retreats in Morocco, Madrid, Budapest, Helsinki, Tunisia, Cancun, Italy, Vancouver, Shanghai and Grand Cayman Island.
According to the News, Democrat Elliot Engel "has whisked his wife to first-class resorts in San Juan and Las Vegas, Wyoming and Florida - and barely spent a nickel." He even scored a $5,300 junket to New Orleans for his daughter and took his teenage son to Seattle and London and Jerusalem, gratis.
Democrat Charlie Rangel jetted off to the Dominican Republic three times in recent years, courtesy of the Punta Cana Beach Resort in 2001, American Airlines in 2002 and the Dominican/American Roundtable in 2003.
Democrat Gregory Meeks has taken 37 trips in the last five years - 30 privately funded and seven government-paid. Destinations included Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Venezuela and Honolulu. Total cost for Meeks' meanderings: $150,000.
Democrat Jerrold Nadler has traveled with his wife, Joyce, courtesy of the Association of American Railroads, on a pair of trips costing $5,500 and $6,600, respectively - while serving on the House Railroad Subcommittee.
Democrat Anthony Weiner took the longest and most expensive taxpayer-paid trip in the delegation - a fact-finding expedition to Antarctica. According to the Daily News, taxpayers wound up shelling out more than $350,000 for the nine-day, 12,500-mile marathon two years ago - with Weiner traveling as part of the 13-member Science Committee.
Democrat Joseph Crowley took the New York delegation's longest trip on record, a 13-day, $8,900 getaway to India and Bangladesh sponsored by an Indian trade group. Crowley has also taken his wife, Kasey, on freebies to India, New Orleans and the Dominican Republic.
Again - those are just the jaunts taken by the House's New York delegation.
What about reports that Tom DeLay paid family members to work on his campaigns?
It turns out he's far from alone. The MediaNews Group reported Wednesday morning:
"Rep. Bernard Sanders [Ind.-VT] used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign-related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.
"Jane O'Meara Sanders, his wife, received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and for negotiating the purchase of television and radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews."
Ooops.
Perhaps it's time for Mr. DeLay to launch a full-blown probe into the rampant abuse of House privileges by his Democrat colleagues.
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