Posted on 12/08/2004 12:34:15 AM PST by weegee
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal expense fund accepted improper contributions from two registered lobbyists in 2001 and this week returned the checks, totaling $3,500, fund trustee Brent Perry said Tuesday.
House rules prohibit lobbyists from making contributions to a member's legal defense fund. The Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust has raised more than $900,000 since its creation in 2000, said Perry, a Houston attorney.
The reimbursement was prompted by Public Citizen, a Washington-based watchdog group, which combed through DeLay's fund and identified the improper contributions.
Asked why it took the fund so long to return the checks, Perry said "no one realized they were a mistake" until Public Citizen raised the alarm.
"They called and asked us about these, they issued a press release and I said, 'Yes, these shouldn't have been accepted, and we will return them immediately,' " Perry said.
Under House rules, donors to such funds may contribute a maximum of $5,000 per year and contributions can be made by individuals, political action committees and corporate or union treasuries.
Public Citizen, which did return a call for comment, has initiated a "Dethrone DeLay" effort, calling on the Sugar Land Republican to step down.
Perry said he returned a $1,000 check from Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. In 2001, Weber's clients included the government of Greece and Microsoft, according to Public Citizen. Also returned were $2,500 from Locke, Liddell & Sapp, Perry said. The Texas law firm was registered to lobby Congress in 2001.
Legal fund outlived lawsuit DeLay created the legal expense fund in 2000, the year the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sued him, claiming DeLay's vast fund-raising network amounted to money laundering and extortion. The case was dissolved less than a year later, but DeLay kept his legal defense fund intact.
In 2004, when DeLay's woes included a Travis Country grand jury probe and an ethics complaint filed by Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, the fund reported $185,300 in contributions through the end of September , according to quarterly reports filed with the Legislative Resource Center.
The filing for the final quarter of this year will not be made until January, but Perry said the total collected since 2000 is "north of $900,000."
Recent cases Still percolating is the Travis County grand jury investigation into a political committee founded by DeLay. DeLay has not been named as a target in the probe, but three of his political associates have been indicted on charges of illegally flowing corporate money into 2002 Republican campaigns for the Texas House.
In the Bell ethics case, the House Committee on Ethics recently admonished DeLay on two counts related to the complaint, for fund-raising activities that gave the appearance of impropriety and for trying to use his influence with the Federal Aviation Administration to track Texas Democrats during redistricting.
About the same time, the committee also admonished DeLay in another case, for pressuring a fellow Republican to vote for Medicare legislation.
Tuesday, House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., and DeLay said in separate interviews that House rules may be revised to ensure that complaints are not filed for partisan political purposes and that "due process" is accorded to members.
Chronicle reporter Gebe Martinez contributed to this report.
julie.mason@chron.com
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal expense fund accepted improper contributions from two registered lobbyists in 2001 and this week returned the checks, totaling $3,500, fund trustee Brent Perry said Tuesday.House rules prohibit lobbyists from making contributions to a member's legal defense fund. The Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust has raised more than $900,000 since its creation in 2000, said Perry, a Houston attorney.
We are talking about 0.38% of the fund. The Comical never misses an opportunity to bash Tom DeLay (primarily over his opposition to Federal funding of the Metrorail boondoggle).
Under House rules, donors to such funds may contribute a maximum of $5,000 per year and contributions can be made by individuals, political action committees and corporate or union treasuries.
So a PAC can give money and $3,500 is less than $5,000.
Public Citizen, which did return a call for comment, has initiated a "Dethrone DeLay" effort, calling on the Sugar Land Republican to step down.
They'd like that, wouldn't they? Can't beat him at the polls so achieve the goal "by any means necessary". I wonder where they stood on the Clinton impeachment over perjury in a sexual harassment case.
HOUSTON PING
The timing, language and approach of the paper's editorials would, of course, be the decision of the Editorial Board. But I suggest that they could be built upon and informed by a news-feature package with an equally specific focus: Telling the story of rail here by examining the long term relationship of the two key players in the local transit wars -- Rep. Tom DeLay and former Mayor Bob Lanier. For better or worse, (mostly worse, I would argue) no two have had a more significant impact on transit decisions here. Our readers deserve to know how they've operated to fund and promote an anti-rail agenda for the past two decades. This would be vital information for voters as they come to their decision on rail. It would also be highly entertaining read.
There exists a vast left wing conspiracy to get Tom DeLay out of office.
Wasn't that request for assistance at the time when the Democrats illegally left the state, camped out in hotels while refusing to do their jobs, but holding hysterical press conferences every day? Funny how a little detail like THAT escaped this intrepid "reporter" (/sarcasm).
Tom, dontcha know that you are only allowed to accept campaign donations from Chinese Communists and wives of Public Enemies.
I wonder where they stand on the Sandy Berger theft!
Even MoveOn.org was illegally accepting foreign donations to advertise for the Kerry Campaign (AND they illegally coordinated strategy WITH the Kerry Campaign).
The is "no controlling legal authority" for Dims.
They engage in dirty politics.
The Comical continues their witchhunt.
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