Tom DeLay's Troubles

The Hammer getting Hammered

Democracy Now: Tom Delay is Taking Secret Corporate Donations to Ensure Republican Control

Delay sought $100,000 in donations to his political action committee from Enron's top lobbyists in May 2001 so he could help bankroll the redistricting of Texas to ensure the Republicans gain more House seats in Texas. That is in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican Party that year.

ABC News: Rep. Bell Wants Enron E-Mail on DeLay Examined

E-mails between Enron officials bolster his charges that DeLay illegally solicited and accepted political contributions and should be investigated.

CBS News: Tom DeLay's Amoral Code

DeLay's brazen attacks on democratic governance -- a tangled web of truly scandalous behavior -- are so outrageous that even conservative Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel has assailed the Republican leadership for fomenting an "anything goes" atmosphere: "I think we're on the edge of something dangerous if we don't turn it around ... It's like the Middle East. You just keep ratcheting up the intensity of the conflict." Real conservatives like Hagel believe that they should take responsibility for their actions. These conservatives actually value the rule of law, and they understand that the ends don't always justify the means in the pursuit of a radical right-wing ideology that serves corporate special interests above all.

Roll Call: DeLay's lawyer doubles as lobbyist for a corporate contributor being investigated (from Taking On Tom DeLay)

The ethics lawyer for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) faces a potential conflict of interest in the case due to his ties to a company caught up in an ongoing criminal investigation of Texas' 2002 state races, according to a House Democrat.

NY Times - Paul Krugman -- The DeLay Money Machine

You shouldn't conclude that the system is working. Mr. DeLay's current predicament is an accident. The party machine that he has done so much to create has eliminated most of the checks and balances in our government. Again and again, Republicans in Congress have closed ranks to block or emasculate politically inconvenient investigations. If Enron hadn't collapsed, and if Texas didn't still have a campaign finance law that is a relic of its populist past, Mr. DeLay would be in no danger at all.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram - Petition Demands DeLay Ethics Investigation

An Austin-based advocacy group sent the House Ethics Committee a petition Monday with the signatures of 10,000 Texans demanding that the panel pursue an investigation into the activities of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

The Washington Post Front Page - DeLay's Corporate Fundraising Investigated

DeLay and his colleagues also face serious legal challenges: Texas law bars corporate financing of state legislature campaigns, and a Texas criminal prosecutor is in the 20th month of digging through records of the fundraising, looking at possible violations of at least three statutes. A parallel lawsuit, also in the midst of discovery, is seeking $1.5 million in damages from DeLay's aides and one of his political action committees -- Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) -- on behalf of four defeated Democratic lawmakers.

Documents unearthed in the probe make clear that DeLay was central to creating and overseeing the fundraising. What the prosecutors are still assessing is who knew about the day-to-day operations of TRMPAC and how its money was used to benefit Texas House candidates.

Several weeks ago, DeLay hired two criminal defense attorneys to represent him in the probe. He previously created a fund for corporate donors to help him pay legal bills related to allegations of improper fundraising, and is now considering extending its reach to include the fees for these attorneys.