By Peter Slutsky, TPMCafe.com(Talking Points Memo), September 27, 2005

28 Sep 2005 // House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was indicted today on one count of conspiracy charges. The indictment resulted from an investigation involving his state leadership PAC's, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), use of corporate money, in violation of state law, to secure Republican majority control of the Texas Legislature in the 2002 election which allowed him to gerrymander Texas Congressional districts. The indictment requires Rep. DeLay to step down as House Majority Leader, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Since 2003, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and spearhead investigations into Rep. DeLay and his cohorts' blatant violation of House ethics rules, state law and federal law. Over a year ago, CREW drafted a complaint, filed by former Congressman Chris Bell (D-TX), asking impart that the House ethics committee investigate Rep. Delay's illegal use of corporate money. The complaint resulted in the admonishment of Rep. DeLay on two counts, however, the committee refused to act on the allegations of illegal use of corporate money. Both CREW and former Rep. Bell are now vindicated by the Texas grand jury's indictment.
Other actions taken by CREW against Rep. DeLay include: sending a letter to the IRS requesting an audit of TRMPAC finances and filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) requesting an investigation into ARMPAC for its failure to report contributions from the Bacardi Corp. and filing a complaint with the FEC for improperly allocating expenses between ARMPAC's federal and non-federal accounts.

CREW applauds Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle for the work his office has done to decipher TRMPAC's violations of campaign finance law and for the investigation and indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay for conspiring to circumvent state law.

The downfall of Rep. DeLay, however, does not solve Congress's ethics problems. CREW will continue its work to uncover unethical behavior by elected officials and use all available legal avenues to hold individuals who violate Congressional ethics rules or break the federal law accountable for their actions. Earlier this week, CREW released a report entitled Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (www.beyonddelay.org), documenting the unethical and possibly illegal activities of Members who have committed serious ethics violations. CREW also has filed a complaint against Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) for possible insider trading of HCA Inc. stock he sold shortly before it plummeted in value. Sen. Frist's father started the company and his brother remains on its board of directors.

It is a sad, historic first that the majority leaders in both chambers are under criminal investigation at the same time. The culture of corruption has become a cancer on our country.