CNN's Live From... invited CNN contributor and former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) to discuss ethical questions surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), but failed to note Barr's significant financial ties to DeLay. Barr defended DeLay's activities and attacked comments made by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) while identified only as a “CNN contributor”; however, Barr has received campaign contributions from DeLay's Leadership PAC and has contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund.
Between 1998 and his electoral defeat in a 2002 congressional primary, Barr received more than $10,000 from Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), DeLay's leadership PAC. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), Barr accepted $8,709 from ARMPAC during the 2000 campaign cycle and $1,341 during the 1998 cycle.
Barr also contributed $1,000
to the Tom DeLay Legal Expense Fund in 2001.
CNN anchor Miles O'Brien interviewed Barr on the April 20 edition of CNN's Live From...:
O'BRIEN: OK. We want to get this the next story without delay, which sounds good, actually, to House Democrats about now. Has the beleaguered majority leader gone too far? CNN contributor Bob Barr joining us to talk about it. Bob, good to see you.
BARR: Thank you, as always.
[...]
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's -- let's talk about how this plays politically, and Sen. Schumer of New York had some interesting insights on all of this and how really on the other side of the aisle they're sort of cheering on statements just like this. Let's listen to Sen. Schumer.
[begin video clip]
SCHUMER: For the sake of America, I hope Tom DeLay stops this campaign. For the sake of Democrats, it's not so bad if he continues. Because the public, when they smell that whiff of abuse of power, when they smell that whiff of extremism, my way or no way, no matter what the process is, automatically goes to the other side.
[end video clip]
O'BRIEN: All right, he does have a point there. What we're talking about here is the American public and their sense. They have a -- you know, in their mind, they have a boundary. Has Tom DeLay crossed that boundary layer, and is he overreaching?
BARR: To be honest with you, I think Chuck Schumer has crossed that boundary. What business does a United States senator have to interject himself into the business of the other party's leadership in the other house?
[...]
O'BRIEN: Let's just talk about that Democratic point there, that perhaps the public -- there may be a huge backlash here for the Republicans as a result of all this?
BARR: The Democrats don't like Tom DeLay because he is very, very effective. He knows how to go toe-to-toe, mano-a-mano with them, and they don't appreciate that because he's effective. That's really at the core here. It's all about power politics. It has nothing to do, really, with philosophy or the good of the country. It's about power politics.