Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs for Congress

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April 14, 2008

Welcome Texas Weekly Readers!

I want to make something crystal clear: I am not accusing Pete Olson of corruption. I stated that twice in the body of this post which remains unchanged from prior to the runoff. My concern with Mr. Olson is that he shares the same cozy relationships with lobbyists that former Rep. Tom DeLay did. (Mr. DeLay still has some very real legal problems ahead of him.)

The point of this post is that there are very few policy differences between Mr. Olson and Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs. Given that the two candidates were similar, I argued that the deciding factor should be based on Mr. Olson's closeness to those associated with scandal versus Dr. Sekula Gibbs' extremely mild indications that she disapproved of Mr. Olson's relationships with lobbyists.

As for the general election, I suspect this may be the first time in over a decade that I can vote a straight ticket ballot. The primary reason is that Mr. DeLay won't be on it.

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Typically, I am loath to write posts about local electoral politics. But there is a striking difference difference between the two candidates in the Republican run-off for US Congress in the 22nd district of Texas. The clear choice is Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs.

My blogs originated as a response to the corruption of our former Congressman, Tom DeLay. To this day, I am horrified at the lack of concern the Republican party has toward the issue of corruption. In 2006, the party nominated the corrupt Mr. DeLay even though he had no chance of winning the general election. As a result, Rep. Nick Lampson is our Congressman for the next nine months.

There is a very obvious difference between the two remaining candidates for US Congress. Mr. Pete Olson epitomizes the lack of concern the Republican party has toward corruption. Nearly six months ago, I wrote about Mr. Olson's fundraising connection with Barbara Bonfiglio's former firm of Williams & Jensen. Now I freely admit that there's no hint of illegal activity simply because Mr. Olson received donations from the lobbyists at W&J, but there are more mosaic tiles to indicate that Mr. Olson is not sensitive enough to the Culture of Corruption.

Earlier this month, the web-based news outlet FortBendNow.com looked into who was donating to Mr. Olson's campaign:

Another notable who gave money to Olson in the most recent period is lobbyist Drew Maloney, once chief of staff to former CD-22 kingpin Tom DeLay. Maloney, of Washington D.C., gave Olson $1,000 on March 6.

Pop quiz! Who is Drew Maloney? Mr. Maloney was an energy lobbyist after his employment with former Rep. DeLay. On May 30, 2002, Mr. Maloney wrote an e-mail to ARMPAC staffer (and another former DeLay Congressional staffer) Chris Perkins that seemingly connected the legislative interests of Mr. Maloney's clients with political donations. Former Rep. Tom DeLay was admonished by the House Ethics Committee over this incident. The Ethics Committee found:

In particular, there was the timing of the fundraiser, i.e., it took place just as the House-Senate conference on major energy legislation, H.R. 4, was about to get underway. Indeed, one of the communications between organizers of the fundraiser – an e-mail of May 30, 2002 from [energy lobbyist and former DeLay staffer] Mr. [Drew] Maloney to [ARMPAC staffer] Mr. [Chris] Perkins that notes the legislative interests of each of the attendees – includes a specific reference to the conference. (That e-mail is included in Attachment M.) In addition, there was the fact that Representative DeLay was in a position to significantly influence the conference, both as a member of the House leadership and, by action taken about a week and a half after the fundraiser, his appointment as one of the conferees.

Furthermore, the Ethics Committee stated in a letter of admonishment to then- Rep. DeLay that:

This letter implements determinations made by the Committee that you be admonished for your conduct in two respects:

your participation in and facilitation of an energy company golf fundraiser at The Homestead resort for your leadership PACs on June 2-3, 2002. Those actions were objectionable under House standards of conduct because, at a minimum, they created an appearance that donors were being provided special access to you regarding the then-pending energy legislation.

To be clear, there is nothing illegal about Mr. Olson collecting money from someone who participated in a scheme that was "objectionable under House standards of conduct". At the same time, it doesn't give me great comfort that Mr. Olson is very sensitive to the very issues that caused Mr. DeLay to resign from Congress.

Dr. Sekula Gibbs hints at these issues in some of her campaign literature. In a recent flier found in the Anti-Corruption mailbox, Dr. Sekula Gibbs' campaign says that "some of [Mr. Olson's] biggest supporters are the lobbyists who run [Washington, D.C.]" I wish Dr. Sekula Gibbs were more vocal about this issue, but at least there is evidence that she gets it.

There is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Sekula Gibbs will have a decent voting record if she wins this seat. She must know that pro-life voters will find someone better if she doesn't maintain her 100% rating from the National Right to Life organization. Her newfound opposition to immigration may be political opportunism -- but unfortunately, it is no different from Mr. Olson's position. My political worldview is summed up in five words stolen from the late Bob Bartley: "Free Markets and Free People". It seems to me that supporting an increase in legal immigration meets both of those criteria. Overall, there is little distinguishing the public policies of Dr. Sekula Gibbs and Mr. Olson. Therefore, vote for the one that is more sensitive to the threat of public corruption. Support Dr. Sekula Gibbs.