The DCCC noted today that the “kingpin strategy” being used in Texas seems to be working its way closer to Tom DeLay.
Prosecutors investigating whether corporations illegally financed the Republican Party’s rise to dominance in the Texas Capitol are negotiating agreements with several companies accused of making improper political donations, and analysts say the discussions could help elicit important leads in the probe.
We already know that Diversified Collection Services and Sears struck immunity deals with prosecutors in exchange for cooperation with the investigation. Both say contributions they made to Texas Republicans were given “on the basis of false and misleading information provided by the fundraiser that solicited the contribution.”
But DCS and Sears were just two of eight companies indicted as part of the ongoing grand jury investigation. How about the other six?
Sources close to the investigation said this week that similar deals were being negotiated with some of the remaining six companies indicted late last year. The six companies are the Williams Companies Inc., Bacardi USA, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, Questerra Corp. and Westar Energy Inc.
[…]
The negotiations could underscore a painstaking strategy by investigators to pit defendants in the case against one another. Prosecutors hope to learn specific information from companies that are required to talk — who solicited donations, who collected the money, how it was delivered and what, if anything, was promised in return.
That information could be critical because investigators believe these sorts of transactions are conducted largely through verbal agreement.
None of this is good news for DeLay.
Three of the Majority Leader’s close aides have already been indicted and charged with money laundering and unlawfully accepting and soliciting corporate contributions. Now some of the corporations whom DeLay may have contacted are striking immunity deals.
One legal source with knowledge of the investigation said the agreements with the companies could help target “big fish” in the Republican Party by persuading the three DeLay aides to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for leniency or dismissal of their cases. The aides face 10-year prison sentences if convicted.
“If you are looking at 10 … years in jail, are you going to take the hit for Tom DeLay?” the source asked.
I’m wondering if, right about now, DeLay is regretting his decision to keep the House rule forbidding congressional leaders from serving while under indictment.