Back in 1995, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek confirmed that Tom Delay, as House majority whip, had a little black book as part of doing business in the House. In October 2005, Alter wrote about it in Tom DeLay’s House of Shame, “A decade ago, I paid a call on Tom DeLay in his ornate office in the Capitol. I had heard a rumor about him that I figured could not possibly be true. The rumor was that after the GOP took control of the House that year, DeLay had begun keeping a little black book with the names of Washington lobbyists who wanted to come see him. If the lobbyists were not Republicans and contributors to his power base, they didn’t get into ‘the people’s House.’ DeLay not only confirmed the story, he showed me the book.”
Alter went on to write (bold added), “… Congress over the years has seen dozens of sex scandals and dozens of members brought low by financial improprieties. But never before has the leadership of the House been hijacked by a small band of extremists bent on building a ruthless shakedown machine, lining the pockets of their richest constituents and rolling back popular protections for ordinary people.”
Now put Tom’s black book in the context of the Foley sex scandal. Did Tom know about Foley’s inclinations for young males? Did Tom use it to get Foley to vote a certain way? What else did Tom know about is fellow Republicans? Would Tom have kept this sensity information in his little black book? Even if he didn’t, was there anything that would have kept Tom from using it as part of his “ruthless shakedown machine?”
Andy Hailey