DeLay imbroglio finds way to NW

All politics is local, eventually, so it is not surprising that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s travails have some local fallout. Just how radioactive it might be remains to be seen.

House Democrats were busy last week sending out press releases and urging members to ask the news media about money with any hint of DeLay taint that other members of Congress might have. Because DeLay is quite good at spreading around his campaign largesse, some of it has made its way to the Northwest. To wit:

•Rep. Cathy McMorris of Eastern Washington got $5,000 last year from Americans for a Republican Majority, DeLay’s congressional political action committee. This is not the same PAC as Texans for a Republican Majority, the one named in the DeLay indictment.

•Rep. Dave Reichert of Bellevue got $10,000 last year from the PAC, and another $10,000 this year.

•Rep. Doc Hastings has received $5,930 over the years, some of it in-kind contributions.

Democrats are calling for local Republicans to give the money back, as one New Hampshire congressman did last week.

Well oh yeah? countered Republicans. Then Democrats should practice what they preach and give back money from that Chicago attorney who was indicted, rather than waiting until he’s found guilty, like they said at the beginning of the month.

Both sides might want to reconsider this mutual assured distraction over tainted campaign money. Even using that last standard of innocent until proved guilty, Republicans would be coughing up money from the likes of Enron’s Ken Lay and WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers; and Democrats would be giving back large chunks of change from, among others, Martha Stewart.

Roberts rules

On the other side of the aisle, from the other side of the Capitol, Republicans are trying to zing Sen. Maria Cantwell for voting against the confirmation of John Roberts.

State Republicans made much of Cantwell’s announced “No,” complaining it was, in state Chairman Chris Vance’s words “sad, but predictable” and placing her in the “angry, rigid, liberal Howard Dean wing of the Democratic Party.”

Imagine that – someone who got knocked out in the early primaries rates his own wing.

But after the state GOP proclaimed itself not surprised by Cantwell, one had to wonder at its reaction to Sen. Patty Murray voting “Yes,” which is, after all, a bit of a surprise because the two have similar stances on many issues. So similar that Republican candidates running against Cantwell are likely to tell voters in the very near future that the state needs separate voices that represent a wider spectrum of the state’s population.

The next day, there was no mass e-mailing of Republican surprise over Murray’s vote. But there was mention of it in a follow-up rebuke of Cantwell, sort of like, if only Maria were as sensible and bipartisan as Patty.

“Why would she (Cantwell) choose to highlight herself as being out of the bipartisan mainstream in the U.S. Senate?” Vance demanded.

The National Republican Senate Committee repeatedly mentioned the nice things Murray said about Roberts – leaving out, of course, her suggestions that the White House judicial selection process stinks and that the president regards appointments as spoils of victory – in complaining about out how “ultra-left” Cantwell is.

Think of it. A year after being used as a bull’s-eye for all things liberal in her race against George Nethercutt, Murray is now the model of mainstream bipartisanship.

Not smiling

Not happy with Murray’s “Yes” vote, not surprisingly, were the state chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League and the Spokane chapter of Planned Parenthood. Neither was too strident, however. They know the big fight on the abortion issue is coming with the next nomination.

Walk on the wild side

On a more bipartisan note, Cantwell and Hastings are having success pushing through Congress the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trails Designation for a trail that takes in parts of Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon (sort of like the floods themselves).

Cantwell extolled it last week as a way to “bring in tourist dollars that will help invigorate rural Central and Eastern Washington communities.”

Due respect to the prehistoric event that shaped the face of the Inland Northwest, but how many miles would most tourists travel for “the Ice Age Floods trail”? And if that name did lure you from, say, Alabama, in August, mightn’t you be expecting some relief from the heat? Boy are you going to be surprised that the only ice in sight is in the cooler outside the Hico.

Could be worse. This could be named the Channeled Scablands Geologic Trail.