What Do Mary Jo Kilroy and Tom DeLay Have in Common?

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently raised the specter of Ken Starr to try to scare her liberal donors into digging a little deeper to prevent a Republican takeover of the House. She wrote in a fundraising letter that a Republican win would "bring back the days of Ken Starr and the politics of personal destruction". Speaker Pelosi ought to know that even if Republicans wanted to bring back "the days of Ken Starr"--and I haven't heard of any of them expressing that they do--it's a legal impossibility. The Independent Counsel law expired over eleven years ago, on June 30, 1999. That bogeyman has left the building.

Besides, between the John Edwards sex tape and Al Gore staining a masseuse's black slacks the American people have had more than enough nauseating Democrat sex scandals for the time being (and by "time being" I mean eternity). If there's anything more lascivious than the Democrats' love affair with Wall Street going on in the government then we don't want to know. Seriously, we're grossed out enough.

Don't want to know

Reading about Pelosi's sentimental journey down memory lane has put me in the mindset to remember the disgraced former Congressman Tom DeLay whose unethical actions are being mirrored today by Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy.

In 2004 Congressman DeLay was admonished by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (commonly known as the Ethics Committee) for participating in and facilitating an energy company fundraiser while energy legislation was pending. This week with financial reform legislation pending Mary Jo Kilroy held a fundraiser (actually fundraisers (plural) if you count the $30,400 per couple gala Kilroy had with Speaker Pelosi this past Saturday) to solicit PAC donations from the financial industry--and she made sure "Member of House Financial Services Committee" was printed in large font on the invitation.

It will be very telling of the ethical standards of the Pelosi Congress if the Ethics Committee fails to admonish Kilroy for her DeLay-like behavior. The good news is that even if Speaker Pelosi abuses her influence to protect Congresswoman Kilroy, her veritable Bobbsey Twin, you and I will have the opportunity to admonish Mary Jo ourselves in the election booth this coming November.

Look lively, Mary Jo! After we fire you maybe you can be on Dancing with the Stars just like your ethical role model Tom DeLay! If you can stay awake, that is....