A couple days have passed since I wrote about the ties between Jerry Kilgore, Tom DeLay, and Jack Abramoff. Has the press followed up on Kilgore's financial connections with the DeLay/Abramoff illegal money machine? Well, no. Maybe it's just that the Kilgore campaign hasn't returned their calls yet (I'm giving the press the benefit of the doubt). Who knows. In the meantime, I've done some more digging and found an old Charlottesville Daily Progress blurb, picked up in this American Political Network report:
SUDDENLY THE GOP HAS SOME BAGGAGE
Kilgore "isn't defending" House Maj. Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) but isn't "explicitly joining calls for his ouster." At Larry Sabato's UVA class 4/13, Kilgore "politely sidestepped" a reporter's question about whether DeLay should be replaced. Kilgore: "I'm convinced the House leadership is going to do the right thing here. They are going to look at the facts and do the right thing with Mr. DeLay." Kilgore, "who had called for new leadership" at the VA GOP after an eavesdropping scandal: "Certainly, I'm not involved at the federal level and I've been quick at the state level to call on people, when I knew the facts, to leave or to resign office." . . .
Despite Kilgore's "polite sidestep" on Tom DeLay, the fact remains: Kilgore has taken money from the DeLay/Abramoff money machine. This, combined with the fact that those men have since been indicted, should lead the press to revisit this issue. This time, they should demand more than Jerry Kilgore simply ducking their questions. Perhaps the press can ask Mr. Kilgore how the federal/state distinction is relevant when his state campaign appears to be neck deep in money from that "federal" mess.