Files fuel questions on DeLay tie to PAC

He was figurehead, spokesmen contend

13 Jun 2005 // When a judge said last month that a political committee founded by House majority leader Tom DeLay had broken the law by failing to report $500,000 in donations, the Texas representative distanced himself from the ruling.

DeLay's spokesmen insisted that he was a mere figurehead of the committee he founded, Texans for a Republican Majority. He had no control over its day-to-day operation, they said, and his lawyer dismissed suggestions of impropriety as ''outlandish."

But in the summer of 2002, during a crucial period of fund-raising and activism for the committee, DeLay stepped off an airplane in Austin and received a list of people who would attend a fund-raiser billed as ''a private meeting with Tom DeLay," according to Republican fund-raising documents subpoenaed by a Texas court.

Three days earlier, a Texans for a Republican Majority staff member had sent an e-mail to three other DeLay associates asking for the list. ''Have that on the ground in Austin for T.D.," he wrote.

The roster included 11 lobbyists and executives who had an ambitious wish list in Austin and Washington. They included attendees from the chemical industry, a wheelchair distributor, and a powerful Texas law firm with strong ties to the Republican Party.

A database analysis shows that between 2000 and 2004, the businesses or organizations represented that day donated at least $323,000 to DeLay's campaigns or political committees, including $77,500 to Texans for a Republican Majority.

None of that money was donated at the meeting itself. What's more, the donations represent a tiny portion of the millions DeLay has helped raised in recent years, dispensing it to conservative politicians through an innovative operation that has given him rare power in Washington and Texas. But the roster of attendees, DeLay's interest in the event, and the ensuing donations do provide a window into the private world where DeLay often conducts the public's business.

And the fund-raiser was just one of several similar events described in the internal files of GOP activists, which were subpoenaed and entered into evidence in a lawsuit brought by five Democratic candidates in Texas. The documents suggest that DeLay's involvement in the committee was deeper than he has allowed.

A dispute over whether corporate money used in the 2002 Texas congressional election was illegal has prompted several lawsuits. A prosecutor in Austin is also conducting a parallel criminal investigation. Three of DeLay's aides have been indicted and charged with money laundering and unlawfully accepting and soliciting corporate contributions.

DeLay has not been named as a defendant in the lawsuits and has not been charged with a crime, though prosecutors have not ruled out charges against him. The details of his involvement in the organization could help determine whether attorneys representing Democrats or prosecutors attempt to hold him personally liable for the fund-raising operation.

In one August 2002 e-mail, a DeLay fund-raiser asked another aide for a ''top 10 list" of potential donors to Texans for a Republican Majority. The e-mail said DeLay would personally contact certain prospects. Another exchange suggested that two donor checks would be delivered to DeLay himself. DeLay's spokesmen have denied that he handled checks personally. In an interview, his Washington lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, said DeLay had no control over how donations were accepted or how money was spent.

Late last month, a Texas judge ruled that the treasurer of Texans for a Republican Majority broke the law when he failed to report $532,233 in corporate money raised during the 2002 elections.