Finding Is A Bonus To "Killer D's"

Folks in the Lone Star State are fond of saying, "Everything's bigger in Texas." That may have special pertinence to political scandals in the wake of a DOT investigative report released Friday.

The Inspector General report says at least 13 FAA employees spent eight hours trying to find a Piper Cheyenne belonging to Texas Representative Pete Laney. The Texas Department of Public Safety, reportedly at the urging of Texas House Speaker Tom Craddock, was actually on a political goose chase, hunting down Democrats who'd run away from the state house to avoid a redistricting vote (ANN: May 26, 2003 - Feds May Investigate Killer D Episode).

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In case you hadn't heard, the whole incident began when US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) decided he wanted the Lone Star State's congressional districts redrawn. Democrats in Austin were appalled. They'd just wrangled through a bitter redistricting fight in their last legislative session, two years earlier. DeLay's fellow Republican, Texas House Speaker Craddock (right), dutifully sent the matter to committee.

Texas Democrats, in the meantime, were red-faced and blustering. Knowing they didn't have the votes to stop the redistricting measure, they finally decided to call in sick. That's just what 53 of them did, most holing up at a motel in Ardmore (OK), where the long arm of Texas law couldn't reach them.

Laney (pictured below right, in center) and his Cheyenne ferried several legislators and staff members from an airport near Georgetown (TX) to Ardmore.

Craddock got wind of the flights and the DPS started tracking them down. In the process, a DPS officer contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the FAA, leading federal officials to believe Laney's plane was missing and may have crashed.

The episode has caused a mini-firestorm of controversy on Capitol Hill, where Democrats still hold a two-seat majority among the Texas Delegation. They charge the use of federal emergency resources in a clearly partisan manhunt was just plain wrong. Over at the Texas DPS, Lt. Will Crais tried to fall on his sword, testifying under oath that he had the idea to call the Homeland Security Department and made the call on his own. But the Homeland Security inspector general report said Crais told investigators he called the agency at "the direction of unnamed individuals." Now there's a third story. The report released Friday says it was FAA officials in Oklahoma City who referred DPS to the Homeland Security agency.

The Transportation Department's Inspector General investigation lays out a more intense search by DeLay and the DPS on May 12, with calls to FAA headquarters, the Air Route Traffic Control Center in Fort Worth and the FAA office in Oklahoma City.

Fingerpointing In Texas And On Capitol Hill

"It clearly shows DeLay's involvement was very deep in this," said Rep. Martin Frost, a Democrat. "DeLay and the Texas Republicans were attempting to use the federal government as an arm of the Republican Party."

DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella countered that the report confirmed that the information about the plane's location was publicly available and there was nothing improper in DeLay making the request or in getting the information.

DeLay (right) told Texas reporters in May that it was his office which had contacted the FAA. "The report confirms what we've said for weeks," a DeLay spokesman said. "Our office inquired as to the location of some wanted legislators which was public information. Accusations of improper activity are as false today as they were when the Democrats first made them."

The spokesman also said,  "The crux of the matter was whether or not the information was publicly available. This is not the first-of-its-kind request. What DeLay asked was not out of the ordinary, not inappropriate. This information, which is publicly available, has been granted in the past to the general public as well as congressional offices."

Texas Congressional Democrats are having none of that, however. "It clearly shows DeLay's involvement was very deep in this," said Rep. Martin Frost(D-TX). "DeLay and the Texas Republicans were attempting to use the federal government as an arm of the Republican Party."

Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), himself a presidential candidate, has taken the lead in questioning the federal role in the search for the Killer D's. He  said on Friday, "This report makes clear that the FAA was used to search for a private plane to pursue a partisan political end. This strikes me as a clear abuse of the federal government's resources - and an invasion of privacy - and one that shouldn't happen again."

The whole matter is also red-hot in Austin, where charges of partisanship are flying in both the halls of the statehouse and the chambers of state court. The DPS mysteriously destroyed all documents relating to the incident. There are lawsuits and allegations that the Texas Attorney General, a Republican, is playing partisan politics as well in his handling of the case. You know, this is better than the television program "Law and Order." Stay tuned.

FMI: www.oig.dot.gov/show_pdf.php?id=1125, www.oag.state.tx.us