12.27.05
Tom Delay,Texan Luxury Travel Expert
Texan and currently indicted congressman Tom Delay has traveled like a the best among us during the past 6 years. A recent article in the Arizona central details some of the more luxurious destinations for Delay, his colleagues and team.
He was very friendly. We always see the relaxed side of politicians,” said Daniel Vassi, owner of the French bistro Chez Daniel at Palmas del Mar. Vassi said DeLay has eaten at his restaurant every year for the past three and was last there in April with about 20 other people, including the resort’s owners.
The restaurant is a cozy and popular place on the yacht-lined marina at Palmas del Mar. Dishes include bouillabaisse for about $35.50, Dover sole for $37.50 and filet mignon for $28.50. Palmas del Mar is also a DeLay donor, giving $5,000 to DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority PAC in 2000.
Delay seems to find interesting ways to pay for his luxury vacations. In 2004, DeLay was admonished three times by the ethics committee, and it has been recently alleged in 2001 the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council spent at least $106,921 to finance the three-day trip from Washington to Seoul which DeLay and accompanying staff assistants described at the time as having an “educational” purpose.
AP’s review found DeLay’s various organizations spent at least $1 million over the past six years on hotels, restaurants, golf resorts and corporate jet flights for their boss and his associates.
Although it’s illegal for a lawmaker to tap political donations for a family vacation, it is perfectly legal to spend it in luxury if the stated purpose is raising more money or talking politics.
Tom Delay is currently under indictment for charges that he conspired to pass corporate contribution money to republican candidates for the Texas legislature. It has been reported that DeLay “received free travel valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for ‘officially connected travel’ on October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005.
DeLay’s own political empire has underwritten far more travel.
The destinations for DeLay or his political team include a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jamaica; the Prince Hotel in Hapuna Beach, Hawaii; the Michelangelo Hotel in New York; the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door Spa in Fajardo, Puerto Rico; and the Phoenician resort in Scottsdale, built by Charles Keating before he became the most public face of the savings and loan scandal in the early 1990s.
There’s also the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Fla., offering “dazzling views of the Gulf of Mexico, warm golden sunsets and three miles of pristine beach” plus golf, a spa, goose-down comforters, marble bathrooms and private, ocean-view balconies. Rooms run from about $389 to more than $3,000 a night in December, the month DeLay’s PAC spent $4,570 on lodging there in 2004.
“He liked to talk to people,” said Pedro Muriel, a waiter at Puerto Rico’s El Conquistador Resort. Muriel recalled DeLay staying in an enclave of privately owned red tile-roofed villas.
The villas have up to three bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and French doors that open onto terraces or balconies facing the Caribbean. Prices average about $1,300 a night.
DeLay’s donors have also financed visits to country clubs and tournament-quality golf courses, including the exclusive Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., site of this summer’s PGA Championship; Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pa., home of another PGA event; and Harbour Town Golf Links, a course on Hilton Head Island, S.C., that was designed in consultation with Jack Nicklaus.
“World class. Dynamic. Luxury resort. Spend a day, spend a week, spend a lifetime,” another DeLay fund-raising spot, the ChampionsGate golf resort near Orlando, invites on its Web site.
The resort, where a round of golf costs $70 to $80 per player on top of lodging, has two top-notch courses designed by pro golfer Greg Norman.
Dining at fine restaurants also is routine. The stops for DeLay and his associates include Morton’s of Chicago, where the average dinner for two goes for about $170 before tax and tip, and “21″ in Manhattan, a longtime glamour spot where American caviar goes for $38 for a taste.
Say what you want about his politics or ethics, but clearly this man knows how to travel.
