President Ronald Reagan was a religious man. He attended church services regularly and lived his life according to the Word of God to the best of his ability. So when Reagan crafted the “11th commandment” in jest, people still knew he was serious. “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican,” Reagan admonished.

While I admire President Reagan so much for his contributions to the Republican Party and try to live my political life according to the Word of Ron, today I have to break his 11th commandment – to some extent.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has recently come under fire for severely violating House ethics polices. Yet, while his actions were inappropriate and he should be reprimanded, there is more to the story than what meets the eye.

The Republicans have always been trailblazers when it comes to policy making and ethics reform, so when I hear that the left accuses the GOP leader in the House of Representatives of high crimes and misdemeanors, I’m a bit skeptical. However, the accusations are numerous and have not been adequately rebutted.

DeLay has been accused of accepting favors from many lobbyists seeking to “get a seat at the table” in Washington and acting inappropriately in his legislative duty. These incidents include skybox tickets at concerts, expensive vacations overseas, funneling political action committee money to the Republican National Committee and executing illegal redistricting procedures in Texas.

DeLay has been brought before the House Ethics Committee and reprimanded for past ethics violations, clearly showing a lapse in current ethics committee oversight. After the installation of an even more Republican-dominated House in January, DeLay was behind the scenes when the committee made itself even more dysfunctional by passing a law requiring at least one Republican on the committee to support an investigation before it is began. Obviously, with a committee stacked with DeLay’s friends, he would be immune from ethics investigations and free to travel the world in exchange for political favors.

Stacking the ethics committee and violating the rules in such egregious fashion are deplorable behaviors not to be defended, but the bigger problem lies with the Democrats’ style of attack on DeLay and the Republicans. What’s sad is that it’s not even Democrats responsible for the attacking.

Moveon.org, the Campaign for America’s Future, Democracy 21, the Open Society Institute and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are all organizations calling for DeLay’s head on a stick. What else do they all have in common? They are all either directly or indirectly funded by George Soros, a Hungarian multi-billionaire hell-bent on destroying America and the civilized world for his profit.

When Soros failed to single-handedly defeat President Bush in 2004, he also single handedly purchased sole power over the Democratic Party’s agenda. His next failed mission: Topple Tom DeLay and the House Republicans.

It’s understandable that the Democrats would want to take political advantage of DeLay’s irresponsibility, but if they were smart, they would be trying to prove that they are the party of ethics and be calling for ethics reform in the House. Instead, Soros is sticking to his old playbook of smearing his opponent and forgetting to carve substantial policy for the future.

The Democrats cannot truly capitalize on DeLay’s political blunders because many of their own have also been connected to his unethical escapades – including top aides to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). However, they could be focusing on an agenda of ethics reform – a worthy pursuit that would benefit the country and not some billionaire’s ego.

While Tom DeLay’s actions were inappropriate and he should be punished (and possibly will be by the voters during midterm elections), he should not have to step down from his leadership position or resign his seat in the House. Too many other congressmen of both parties have been implicated in this mess to justify DeLay’s scapegoat status. However, Congress must pursue ethics reform sans foreign political influence. It might be a delayed reaction, but, for the country, better late than never.