Unfortunately the answer is probably so. It seems being a member of the tea party requires you to be unreasonable, have racist tendencies, forget who you represent, and become incoherent at times. And some, like Stockman, believe they are above the law. Babin may believe that also. From Salon Magazine:
In order to circumvent federal campaign finance laws, which then limited individual contributions to $1,000 per candidate and placed restrictions on corporate contributions, he needed “vehicles.” That is, fresh names to attach to money from donors willing to donate more than the $1,000 federal max. Or the cover provided by organizations that were not corporations and could legally contribute to campaigns for federal office. That’s why he needed Cloeren, who had both the money and, as Babin and DeLay would explain to him, the “vehicles.”
The Salon article is an excerpt from "The Hammer," by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid printed in 2004. It is a very good read. Cloeren told his employees to contribute $1000 to Babin then he would reimburse them. In the real world this is called "a felony". This scheme netted Babin $37,000 in his failed attempt at Congress. Cloeren eventually was investigated by the FBI and secretly recorded Babin.
Cloeren cut himself a deal, though federal prosecutors didn’t cut him much slack. He wouldn’t do any jail time but would plead guilty to misdemeanor violations of federal campaign finance law. He paid a $200,000 fine, and his company paid another $200,000 fine.
Babin? Is now running for Congress in the newly created district. This is the kind of people the tea party supports. Like Stockman, Babin probably thinks he is above the law. This district includes the NASA area. The rocket scientists voting for this crook will get exactly what Stockman gave them and exactly what they paid for.
Nothing.
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