Guess who’s gearing up for another ethics violation charge?

The series of twists and turns in the scandal surrounding GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff can get a little a complicated. His outrageous over-billing of Indian tribes seeking to protect their gambling interests is already the subject of multiple investigations, which implicate a series of Republican members of Congress.

But new questions are also being raised about how and why Abramoff acted as something of an overly generous travel agent for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

It was a conservative’s dream trip, with visits to two icons: Margaret Thatcher and St. Andrew’s golf greens. Five years later, the excursion may become more of a nightmare for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and could pull him back into the congressional ethics problems of last fall. […]

Mr. Abramoff joined the 10-day England-Scotland trip that Mr. DeLay and his wife took in late May and early June of 2000. The trip was paid for and sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a nonprofit educational organization in Washington. At the time of the trip, Mr. Abramoff was on the Center’s board.

House records show that, after the trip, Mr. DeLay’s office filed reports listing $70,259 in transportation, hotel and meal bills paid by the Center. These included $28,100 for Mr. DeLay and his wife, and $42,159 for his chief of staff and her husband as well as a second aide who was on at least part of the trip.

In a statement this week the Center said it had been “careful to pay all the expenses associated with Congressman DeLay’s trip. Reports to the contrary are incorrect.”

Maybe. DeLay was wined and dined by this crooked lobbyist, but there’s evidence that Abramoff, not the National Center for Public Policy Research, paid for DeLay’s posh vacation — which would give DeLay yet another ethics headache to deal with.

National Journal reported last week that Abramoff and his law firm reimbursed the costs of the excursion, including DeLay’s $4,000 hotel bill.

Why is that important? Because House ethics rules (DeLay’s Achilles’ heel) prohibit lawmakers from having their travel paid for by a registered lobbyist, which Abramoff was at the time.

Republican and Democratic experts on House ethics rules say Mr. DeLay’s trip to England and Scotland would raise two potential rules violations if Mr. Abramoff paid any portion of the congressman’s travel costs or if Mr. DeLay solicited Mr. Abramoff or the Center to sponsor the trip.

House rules governing gifts and travel are handled together in the House ethics manual. “While the House gift rule defines what members…may accept in the way of gifts, the rule does not authorize them to ask for any gift,” the rules state.

And in the meantime, the always-outgoing DeLay has gotten very shy whenever Abramoff’s name is brought up.

Keep in mind, DeLay has already been caught violating House ethics rules three times and may soon be facing a criminal indictment for illegal fundraising back in Texas. How long, do you suppose, will House Republicans stand by their ethically-challenged man?