I don’t understand this case. Maybe someone knowledgable can tell me if I have this right or wrong.
Delay had at least $190,000 in his PAC. He asked for corporate contributions and got at least $190,000 from corporations. He then gave $190,000 for various Republicans running for Texas office.
DeLay’s interpretation of this is that he gave the non-corporation money to the Republicans and just refilled the PAC with corporate money. The conviction is based on the interpretation that the $190,000 given to Republicans came from the corporations. And since it is illegal for corporations to donate to Texas candidates, then it would be illegal for Delay to give them money indirectly from corporations using his PAC.
Do I have that right? That Delay’s argument is that he had enough non-corporation private donation money in his PAC that it covered the $190,000 given to the Texas GOP candidates?
If I have this right, this is like telling a food stamp recipient he can’t use his new $100 food stamp to buy booze, but giving him that $100 for food frees up the $100 he was going to use for food that is now available for booze. Sleezy and against intent, but perfectly legal as long as he does not use the actual food stamp money directly for booze.
Do I have this case right or am I missing out on the details?
I think DeLay took the money in and donated it to the RNC which then in turn donated it to seven congressional candidates. So was it corporate money or not? We don’t have the paper trails that the jury was presented to make their determination.
Basically yes. But again, when this occurred, even if he did know, there were no laws against it at the time. It is my understanding that part of campaign finance laws regarding this, were written and made law years later.
It appears that all Delay (or those responsible for running his PAC) is guilty of is failing to have 2 bank accounts - one for the corporate donations and one for the private donations, so as to establish an indisputable money trail. Tsk, tsk, just sloppy bookkeeping - like Charlie Rangel.
IIRC, Travis County Attorney Ronnie Earlls had to convene 3 grand juries in an attempt to indict Delay. He finally succeeded on the third attempt, which shows the weakness of the charges.