What a shocker — part of Tom DeLay’s political machine violated campaign finance laws.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s legal expense fund accepted improper contributions from two registered lobbyists in 2001 and this week returned the checks, totaling $3,500, fund trustee Brent Perry said Tuesday.
House rules prohibit lobbyists from making contributions to a member’s legal defense fund. The Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust has raised more than $900,000 since its creation in 2000, said Perry, a Houston attorney.
The reimbursement was prompted by Public Citizen, a Washington-based watchdog group, which combed through DeLay’s fund and identified the improper contributions.
In light of all that’s happened, I practically expect DeLay to accept illegal contributions from lobbyists, so this hardly comes as a surprise. Talk about your soft bigotry of low expectations, DeLay could start accepting bribes on the Capitol steps and I’d say, “Yep, sounds about right.”
But I’m wondering, why did it take three years to return the ill-gotten donations?
Asked why it took the fund so long to return the checks, Perry said “no one realized they were a mistake” until Public Citizen raised the alarm.
That’s quite an efficient operation DeLay is running there.