The Hammer Eyes Manhattan
The New York Times
Editorial
November 18, 2003
The House Republican leader, Tom DeLay - Congress's
undisputed master of the fund-raising universe - has begun mapping New York for the
Republican National Convention next August. Mr. DeLay, dubbed
The Hammer, thinks he has found a way around the new law banning
soft-money contributions from influence-hungry corporate donors,
who have long financed galas, dinners and yacht cruises for conventioneers of
both parties.
Mr. DeLay is inviting donors to use a children's charity
as a channel to pay up to $500,000 for access to posh convention
events. He insists that this is a legal way to float the costs of the
political fun. It also secures donors a tax break when some of the
money - most, Mr. DeLay promises - is
spent on abused and neglected children. The Internal Revenue
Service had better move quickly to vet this new twist in fat-cat politicking, which
critics are denouncing as illegal. If approved, it would probably
become a freshet for influence peddling because the donations would be unlimited,
undisclosed and unregulated. Democrats might imitate this money mischief.
Mr. DeLay, who has an acknowledged reputation in children's
charity work in his home state, Texas, is marketing the perks by a fanciful mapping
of Manhattan. The Upper East Side Package costs $500,000
for two dinners with Mr. DeLay, plus a luxury convention perch, a V.I.P. cruise and
tickets to hobnob with members of Congress. The Greenwich Village
Package is mysteriously at the pittance end: a mere $10,000 gets you a cruise
minus Mr. DeLay. Not only are the other boroughs ignored, but
so are grand locales of New York political history. The old courthouse bootblack
stand deserves its own package. That's where George Washington
Plunkitt held forth a century ago on politicians' endless hunger for what, then
and now, was termed honest graft. "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em,"
Mr. Plunkitt famously said, nearly 100 years before Mr. DeLay's
lucrative remapping of New York.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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