Yesterday, one of the central figures in the corruption scandal that rocked Washington was sentenced.   Jack Abramoff, who is already in prison, got a lighter sentence in the corruption case, because of his cooperation with federal authorities.  Sounds like federal authorities aren't finished with this investigation:

Jack Abramoff, the powerhouse Washington lobbyist who admitted running a wide-ranging corruption scheme that ensnared lawmakers, Capitol Hill aides and government officials, yesterday received a reduced sentence of four years in prison because of his cooperation with federal investigators.

Abramoff, 49, already has served nearly two years for his conviction in a related Florida fraud case. The sentence yesterday by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle means that the former Republican lobbyist will likely remain in prison until 2012.

More than a dozen people, including an Ohio congressman and a deputy secretary of the interior, have been convicted in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and Justice Department officials said the investigation is continuing. Still under scrutiny are former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and retiring Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.).

 

In a strongly worded dissent to a denial by the Texas Third Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a case, Democratic Justice Diane Henson wrote that her three Republican colleagues on the bench delayed resolving an issue regarding the breadth of the state’s money laundering statute for years, “effectively tying the hands of prosecutors for several years and delaying the resolution of charges of public corruption that undermine the very core of our political system . . .”  Justice Henson also criticized the other justices for concluding that in 2002, the state’s money laundering statute did not cover checks, but only cash.  She had urged all six justices on the court, not just the original three judge entirely Republican panel, rehear the case.  All four Republicans voted not to rehear the matter while the court’s only other Democrat voted with Justice Henson.    

Rep. DeLay and his aides, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, were charged with laundering $190,000 in corporate checks into campaign donations during the 2002 state legislative elections, despite a law banning corporate contributions after Colyandro and Ellis sent $190,000 in corporate contributions to an arm of the Republican National Committee and just two weeks later, the RNC donated $190,000 in non-corporate money to seven state legislative races in Texas.  

Colyandro and Ellis were indicted in 2004 and DeLay in 2005.

Just because DeLay isn't asking for a pardon, doesn't mean that a pardon for DeLay won't be discussed.  According to The Hill, sometimes pardons are given without a request:

Tom DeLay’s legal advisers are ruling out seeking a presidential pardon for the embattled former House majority leader.

DeLay (R-Texas), who declined to comment for this article, resigned from Congress more than two years ago after being indicted, and remains embroiled in legal proceedings in Texas and Washington.

With Bush’s second term winding down, DeLay is the most prominent politician and Bush ally who could benefit from presidential clemency.

But Richard Cullen, who is representing DeLay in the federal investigation against him, said there should be no question of a pardon.

“I would rule it out,” he said. “No one has suggested that Mr. DeLay is guilty of a crime. He has stated clearly that he has not committed a crime.”

Okay.  But this is critical:

Legal experts say a person does not need to request a pardon to receive one from the president.

Margaret Colgate Love, the U.S. pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997, said: “Historically, most people who have been pardoned have asked to be pardoned, but there have been exceptions.”

Love said President Clinton commuted the sentences of Puerto Rican nationalists without receiving requests.

“I understand there were a number of people who were the beneficiaries of final grants who didn’t ask.”

 

CREW has serious concerns about the nomination of Donald McGahn as FEC Commissioner.  We're raised them before at FixTheFEC.org.  McGahn is being sued for malpractice in a case stemming from his representation of Tom DeLay's leadership PAC.  As Melanie Sloan states so forcefully, McGahn must answer questions about that case:

Before voting on the nomination of Donald McGahn to be a member of the Federal Election Commission, the Senate should require Mr. McGahn to answer questions about his role in a FEC enforcement case against Tom DeLay’s former leadership PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority PAC (ARMPAC). Former ARMPAC treasurer Corwin Teltschik has sued Mr. McGahn for malpractice in federal court for settling the case, which included claims against Mr. Teltschik, without his knowledge or consent. In his complaint, Mr. Teltschik alleges that he may lose his license to practice law in Texas as a result of McGahn’s allegedly improper conduct.

If Donald McGahn committed malpractice in settling a campaign finance matter, clearly he cannot lead the agency charged with enforcing those very same laws. Mr. Teltschik’s case raises questions not only regarding Mr. McGahn’s credentials as a campaign finance lawyer, but also his understanding of legal ethics.

He's back.  Again.  Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle caught up with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who helped personify the pervasive culture of corruption:

Nearly two years into his self-imposed retirement from Congress, Tom DeLay doesn't seem discouraged by an indictment he still faces in Austin — charges, he has said, that were pressed by a Democratic district attorney motivated by partisan politics. Nor is he put off by the dismissive treatment he's received from some fellow Republicans. Indeed, he's trying to climb a new ladder in politics.

"I think it's going to be a slow but successful path toward the top again, but in a different venue," said Jonathan Grella, his former press secretary. "To expect or hope that he's disappeared or somehow dispirited is to misunderstand the man.

"He's the last person in Washington anyone would bet against."

DeLay also co-founded a new conservative grass-roots organization last year, which he hopes can come to rival the influence of liberal groups like MoveOn.org. His group, the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, DeLay told the Houston Chronicle, is "a statement of where the conservatives are."

"They're very energized, but they're looking for leadership," he said.

Yet he faces challenges in gaining traction beyond hard-right loyalists as he tangles with a Republican establishment eager to leave behind scandals surrounding imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a so-called culture of corruption that some say DeLay, fairly or unfairly, came to symbolize.

 

What he's doing now

Undeterred, DeLay is soldiering on with what friends call unquenchable cheeriness. In addition to the grass-roots group and frequent TV commentary, DeLay heads a consulting firm, First Principles, and sits on the board of the American Conservative Union. 

Though he has kept a home in Virginia, he has registered to vote in Fort Bend County and holds a Texas driver's license.

DeLay is still involved with a favorite charitable cause, a community for foster children in Fort Bend, said his spokeswoman, Shannon Flaherty.

Still, he faces criminal charges in Austin brought by Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who has prosecuted other high-ranking politicians — some of whom, including then-Attorney General Jim Mattox, were found not guilty.

As we reported earlier, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay accused CREW of leaking the Larry Craig scandal to Roll Call.  We knew that wasn't true.  Now, as Raw Story reports, the reporter who did break the story flat out denies DeLay's bizarre claim: 

"I can tell you categorically that CREW was not the source for our Larry Craig story," Josh Kurtz, who was first tipped off about the Idaho senator's arrest, told RAW STORY. Kurtz is political editor of Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper that first reported Craig's arrest.

CREW publishes an annual list of the "most corrupt" members of Congress called "Beyond DeLay," in honor of the former House majority leader.

The Houston Chronicle reported that DeLay said CREW was acting in concert with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to distract attention from an emerging scandal revolving around rogue fundraiser Norman Hsu.

"Clearly Tom DeLay is still obsessed with CREW," Naomi Seligman Steiner, a spokeswoman for the group told RAW STORY. "Sure, by writing the ethics complaint against him we were instrumental in his downfall. But, after all these years, even we're surprised that he's resorted to making up conspiratorial theories about us."

Further undercutting DeLay's assertion is that reports of Norman Hsu questionable fundraising practices didn't break until a day after Roll Call broke Craig's story.

Tom DeLay: Still obsessed, still wrong. 

We're not beyond DeLay yet.  He can't stop talking -- and he's talking about CREW, still:

Whether he is shunned by the Republican establishment, as he claims, DeLay has little that's kind to say about his former colleagues. He called Republicans terrible communicators with short memories and said some prefer being in the minority because they don't have to work as hard.

DeLay warned the students that Republicans are not focused on the threat posed by a powerful organization he described as run by the Clintons and including the news media and a network of liberal activist groups.

He singled out Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group that DeLay said leaked the story about Sen. Larry Craig's bathroom bust to Roll Call newspaper to divert attention from Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to now-jailed Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu.

"His conspiracy theories are insane," said Naomi Seligman Steiner, communications director for CREW, which was central in developing a congressional ethics complaint of DeLay. "We absolutely positively did not leak the Craig story."

Via TPMmuckraker, we get caught up on the latest news surrounding Ed Buckham, the former chief of staff to former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay.  Mr. Buckham is on the receiving end of a subpoena from a federal grand jury:

John Bresnahan over at The Politico reports that a federal grand jury has subpoenaed House payroll records for Ed Buckham, formerly ex-Rep. Tom DeLay's (R-TX) chief of staff. Bresnahan notes that it's a clear indication that the feds are closing in on Buckham, who left DeLay to found the Alexander Strategy Group, the firm that made millions as the gateway to DeLay during the heady years when he ran the Hill.

Buckham, as DeLay's bag man, has long been considered the key to prosecutors building a case against DeLay as part of the Jack Abramoff investigation. The vise has been closing on him for quite some time. But Peter Stone reports in this month's National Journal that Buckham finally turned down a deal offered by prosecutors to plead guilty, and that "he expects to be indicted soon."

Buckham would be the third former DeLay aide to be targeted in the scandal. Two other ex-aides who went on to work with Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Tony Rudy, have pleaded guilty.

According to The Hill, there's still plenty of activity underway in the scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff.  Prosecutors are apparently still garnering information from key players:

Prosecutors are continuing to talk to Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, his close associate and a former top aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). In late August, the government postponed scheduled status hearings with Judge Ellen Huvelle for both men, giving them three more months to continue to spill information.

In late July, prosecutors also agreed to give Tony Rudy more time to cooperate, scheduling another status hearing for him Nov. 5.

Mark Zachares, who worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and then for Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has a status conference hearing with the judge scheduled for Nov. 2.

Maybe sometime soon there will be a trial on the remaining criminal charges against the man who inspired the culture of corruption:

The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday refused to reinstate a dropped conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Two charges _ money laundering and conspiring to launder money _ remain against the former congressman. He resigned last year amid allegations that he violated campaign finance laws to funnel $190,000 in corporate contributions to Republicans in the state's 2002 legislative elections.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 5-4 against reinstating a count of conspiracy to violate the state's election code.