Jon Chait on Delay

In today's LA Times, Jon Chait has an article that explains the bare bones of the biggest couple of scandals currently surrounding Tom Delay.

I'm currently researching a piece that would go into all this in a bit more depth, focusing on a little outfit by the name of the Alexander Strategy Group. ASG is basically the mechanism by which Delay and his allies coordinate their cronyism.

One of the key figures in Delay's inner circle, so far untouched by the investigations into Delay's financial and ethical hanky panky, is a man by the name of Erik Prince.

Prince is an extremely interesting character, son of an industrial tycoon, Navy Seal, and head of Blackwater, the mercenary company that employed the four soldiers who were burned and hung from a bridge in Falluja.

In somewhat related news, the families of the victims in that incident have had quite a time getting any info about the incident from Blackwater, and the House, which could conduct a public investigation, has refused to act.

Surely this has nothing to do with the fact that immediately after the incident, Prince and Blackwater hired ASG for "crisis managemement." But you know, it does create the appearance of a conflict, does it not?