The New York Times ran an encouraging report today on the ongoing investigation into a Tom DeLay fundraising scheme that is before a Texas grand jury and may lead to some indictments pretty soon.
In recent months, a criminal investigation has swirled around DeLay’s role in using corporate funds to help state GOP lawmakers in Texas. At the center of the investigation is a group called Texans for a Republican Majority, a DeLay PAC.
Investigators believe that DeLay flouted election law by using corporate contributions to finance the state campaigns of over 20 GOP candidates. Specifically, DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority raised more than $520,000 in corporate contributions for Republican candidates and has been accused of illegally using the money for state political activities.
Moreover, the same investigation is looking into whether DeLay’s PAC coordinated its campaign activities with the Texas Association of Business, a state lobbying group, in order to help state GOP candidates, which is also illegal. (DeLay’s group sent out exact copies of the lobbying association’s campaign mailings on behalf of a state House candidate, drawing the attention of prosecutors.)
The details make DeLay and his outfit look pretty bad.
The extent to which Texans for a Republican Majority used corporate money in the 2002 races is laid out in a trail of recently obtained documents. Under Texas law, political action committees are generally prohibited from using corporate and union donations for anything other than administrative expenses, like rent and utilities.
But records and interviews show that fund-raisers from Texans for a Republican Majority who were paid with corporate money solicited donations on behalf of individual candidates backed by the committee, which also spent corporate donations on fund-raising events, polling and a voter identification project.
In one case, corporate donations were used to pay a $1,200 legal bill to defend a new Republican legislator, Bill Zedler, against accusations from his opponent that he did not live in the district that elected him.
There’s more in the article. Is it too much to hope that DeLay will be indicted and have to give up his role as Majority Leader? Probably, but I’ll be keeping an eye on this one all the same.