Delay calls it quits

Lash wrote:

This is a boon for the GOP.

More like a boon for the American people in general. And Texans in particular.

Where exactly are you getting your information from, that the Schiavo antics were going to play a large part in the midterms? Specifically.

Cycloptichorn

Give DeLay's Money Back?

By Paul Kiel - April 4, 2006, 11:23 AM
Well, Tom DeLay has bowed out of his congressional race to spend more time with his lawyers.

But as Josh mentioned last night, DeLay's machine remains. And since the Justice Department's bribery investigation took a direct turn toward DeLay with Tony Rudy's guilty plea last week, the second former aide of DeLay's to plead guilty, one has to imagine the fallout were DeLay to eventually be indicted.

You remember the media frenzy after Jack Abramoff's guilty plea in January. Dozens of members of Congress rushed to return or donate Abramoff's and his clients' money. And recently, the same has occurred with Tony Rudy, although Rudy is not a household name - so only 13 of the 34 Republicans who received contributions from him have returned them.

But imagine the predicament Republicans would find themselves in were DeLay to be indicted. Fundraising was DeLay's specialty, and the main way that he kept House members in his debt. It's difficult to even calculate DeLay's impact in dollars, given how central he's been to the Republican money machine (appearing at others' fundraisers, directed corporate dollars to the GOP), but at the least, one would have to look at DeLay's political committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, which he's used to spread money around to hundreds of Republican House candidates since 1996.

$3.47 million of ARMPAC's money has gone directly to Republican candidates since '96. And to over 100 members of the current Congress, usually in $10,000 payments.

So here's something to watch - here's a list of the GOP candidates who received money from DeLay in '04. How long will they hold on to it? Tony Rudy's guilty plea implicated another former DeLay aide, Ed Buckham, who used to run ARMPAC. Jim Ellis, another former head of ARMPAC, has already been indicted in Texas for laundering corporate contributions down there, along with DeLay himself. How many former leaders of ARMPAC and others connected with DeLay have to go down before ARMPAC money is finally seen as tainted?

Permalink | TOPICS: Tom DeLay

Turning Campaign Dollars to Legal Defense Dollars

By Paul Kiel - April 4, 2006, 12:28 PM
Voila! As R. Jeffrey Smith pointed out in The Washington Post this morning, Tom DeLay's decision to bow out of the race means that he'll save big on campaign expenses. In my mind, this explanation for DeLay's decision to drop out has been underplayed. There were reports earlier this year that his defense fund was in the red - he needs money, and with the progress of the Justice Department's investigation against him, he's looking at the possibility of a federal indictment on top of his case in Texas.

The DeLay legal fund raised about $1.6 million over the last six years. Apparently, he's spent it all. So what's he going to do? At last count, his campaign had $1,295,350 in the bank, which he can soon use to get himself out of debt.

DeLay has good company in looking to use campaign money for his defense. Most recently, in fact, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) recently petitioned the FEC to let him do just that.

And since the commission already ruled on Cunningham's situation, DeLay wouldn't need to ask -- he could say he's in the same boat as Cunningham, according to FEC spokesman George Smaragdis. That'd be a curious admission, to be sure, so keep your eyes open.

Permalink | TOPICS: Tom DeLay

I don't agree with many of your political ideas, but I refuse to believe you are so naive to think that dirty money is a Republican problem.