The Anti-DeLay War Room

(National Review Online)  This column from the National Review Online was written by Byron York.

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The Center for American Progress, the new liberal think tank started by former White House chief of staff John Podesta, is ratcheting up its campaign against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, producing anti-DeLay ads and using the DeLay case in its fundraising appeals.

The Center, which bills itself as a "nonpartisan research and educational institute," has launched a campaign which it calls "Drop the Hammer." On Thursday morning it sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to "help keep the pressure on Tom DeLay."

The "Drop the Hammer" campaign is designed to target corporations which have contributed to DeLay. "Corporate America shouldn't use your consumer dollars to support Tom DeLay's unethical behavior," the e-mail says. The Center has specifically targeted American Airlines, Baccardi, Nissan, RJ Reynolds, and Verizon for their contributions to DeLay's defense.

The Center has created a website, dropthehammer.org, to coordinate the effort. It has also produced new radio ads denouncing DeLay and is asking supporters to contribute to the effort. "They call Tom DeLay the hammer, because he stops at nothing to get what he wants," one of the ads says. "Tell these companies to drop the hammer." Another ad compares DeLay and his organization to the TV crime family in The Sopranos.

The Center for American Progress is made up of two components. One, the Center itself, is a so-called 501(c)(3) organization, a fully tax-exempt charitable organization. Contributions to the Center are tax-deductible. The other part of the Center is the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization, which is also tax exempt but which cannot receive tax-deductible contributions. It is allowed to engage in lobbying, but not openly partisan campaigning.

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