HOUSTON - Rep.
Tom DeLay turned himself Thursday in at the Harris County sheriff's office, where he was photographed, fingerprinted and released on bond on state conspiracy and money laundering charges.
"He posted $10,000 bond and they have left the bonding office," Lt. John Martin with the sheriff's department said.
DeLay, accompanied by his attorney, Dick DeGuerin, showed up about 12:15 p.m., appeared before a judge and was gone in less than 30 minutes, Martin said.
The appearance came a day after a state court issued an arrest warrant for DeLay and set an initial bail, a routine step before the Texas Republican's first court appearance Friday in Austin.
DeLay had been expected to make the appearance in his home county, Fort Bend, a suburban county southwest of Houston, where an entourage of media had been camped out awaiting him. Under Texas law he could check in anywhere in the state
Two grand juries have charged DeLay and two political associates in an alleged scheme to violate state election law by funneling corporate donations to candidates for the Texas Legislature. State law prohibits use of corporate donations to finance state campaigns, although the money can be used for administrative expenses.
The indictments charge that a DeLay-founded Texas political committee sent corporate donations to the
Republican National Committee in Washington, and the national party sent funds back to the state for 2002 campaigns.
DeLay has denied wrongdoing and accused Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle — a Democrat — of having partisan motives. Earle has denied the accusation. Earle did not ask for the arrest warrant for DeLay but approved the court's request, his office said Wednesday.
"What we're trying to avoid is Ronnie Earle having him taken down in handcuffs, and fingerprinted and photographed," DeGuerin said last month. "That's uncalled for, and I don't think that's going to happen."
DeLay's Republican fundraising in 2002 had major political consequences, allowing the GOP to take control of the Texas Legislature. The Legislature then redrew congressional boundaries according to a DeLay-inspired plan, took command of the state's U.S. House delegation and helped the GOP retain its House majority.
Over lunch at the Sunset Grove Country Club in Orange, Texas, businessman Pete Cloeren lamented to Rep. Tom DeLay that he couldn't do more to help his friend Brian Babin get elected to Congress. Cloeren had personally given all he was allowed, and the law wouldn't let him donate money from his plastics company.
DeLay had a solution, Cloeren said. "There are ways we get money moved around the system," Cloeren recalls him saying. "He told us at the lunch table that this was done all the time."
The day after the lunch in 1996, Cloeren says, a DeLay aide called with instructions to donate to several out-of-state political committees and candidates. After Cloeren did so, those committees directed like amounts to Babin's campaign.
Cloeren later pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations, but the man he says advised him escaped any consequences. The Federal Election Commission dismissed Cloeren's complaint against DeLay for lack of evidence, and DeLay denied wrongdoing.
But the scenario Cloeren describes bears a striking similarity to transactions that have led to DeLay's indictment by two Texas grand juries in the past three weeks and his removal, at least temporarily, as House majority leader. One of the most effective House Republican leaders is sidelined as the chamber approaches crucial and difficult votes on spending cuts. DeLay is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday in Austin.
"Based on the allegations, it seems that Tom DeLay has no problem with recommending the use of conduits to hide the source of money going to campaigns," said Larry Noble, director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which studies money in politics. Noble was chief counsel to the FEC at the time of Cloeren's complaint about DeLay. "He seems to be somebody who likes playing in the gray areas, and occasionally stepping over the line."
From a base in suburban Houston, DeLay has raised money and used his power to redraw the Texas political map. The same aggressiveness that has landed him in legal trouble has given him an impressive list of friends in high places. His former protégé Dennis Hastert is speaker of the House of Representatives. Many House members owe their elections to his financial help. Former DeLay aides occupy powerful posts in and outside government — which helps explain why DeLay is so defiant in the face of trouble.
That trouble includes two indictments in Texas, for alleged money laundering and conspiracy, in connection with fundraising to help elect Republicans to the state Legislature. He also figures in the activities of Jack Abramoff and former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon, lobbyists under federal investigation for allegedly defrauding Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.
Four of every five House Republicans have received campaign contributions from DeLay, and he has traveled across the country to raise millions more. DeLay's absence as the No. 2 House leader is being treated by his colleagues as temporary, until his legal situation is resolved.
His former aides are in powerful posts throughout Washington. Former chiefs of staff are prominent lobbyists, including Tim Berry, who just went to work for Time Warner. Other former aides represent top corporations — FedEx, Verizon, Microsoft, Pfizer, Motorola, Walt Disney, ChevronTexaco — and key trade groups.
The former aides multiply DeLay's clout by steering money from their wealthy clients to help DeLay and GOP causes. In 2002, former DeLay legislative director Drew Maloney, a lobbyist, rounded up $152,500 from energy corporations for DeLay's leadership PAC. The money bought entree to an exclusive golf outing at the Homestead resort in western Virginia, as Congress was putting the final touches on a major energy bill, according to records compiled for a House ethics investigation.
Lobbyist Richard Bornemann described the need to donate in a confidential memo to his client, the electric utility Western Resources (now Westar Energy): "The most beneficial way to spend corporate dollars — as opposed to cutting personal or PAC (political action committee) checks — is with the House leadership. That means joining the fold, so to speak, of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay." The memo was posted on the House ethics committee's website.
"DeLay knows that reciprocity is the strongest norm in Washington," said James Thurber of American University. "The clients know they have a relationship and that they have to come up with the money. It's very clear to them, and they do it."
The reach of DeLay's influence was no accident. With GOP anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, he created the K Street Project, named after the downtown Washington corridor that is home to many lobbying firms. The project places Republicans in high-paying, high-powered lobbying jobs with access to top officials in the corporate and political worlds.
In the mid-'90s he was among the first to set up a separate fundraising committee, known as a leadership PAC, that allowed him to collect money to fund his political activities and give to fellow Republicans. The move allowed him to in effect collect twice from a long list of business interests. Eleven of the top 20 donors to his campaign committee and leadership PAC are the same, including the National Restaurant Association, Union Pacific, UPS, Fluor Corp. and the Realtors.
DeLay also instituted a program to introduce his K Street friends to politically vulnerable Republicans. The politicians usually walk away from the "Retain our Majority Program" with an extra $100,000 for their campaigns.
In 2000, DeLay donated $150,000 from his leadership PAC to a similar committee set up in Missouri by Rep. Roy Blunt, whom he had just elevated to be his chief deputy. Blunt has followed DeLay up the leadership ladder and holds the majority leader title while his former boss deals with his legal problems.
DeLay spends money in other ways that solidify his network, including for the care and feeding of Republicans. Lobbyist Dan Mattoon recalled that at the Republican Convention in Houston in 1992, DeLay arranged for cars and drivers to ferry House members around the sprawling city.
The Indian tribe's donation is evidence of yet another link in DeLay's network, and one that looms as a major problem: Lobbyists Abramoff and Scanlon are under federal investigation for their activities on behalf of tribes with gambling operations, including the Mississippi Choctaws, for which they billed the tribes $82 million.
DeLay took at least three trips with Abramoff — to play golf in Scotland, to Russia and to the Northern Mariana Islands. There is evidence that lobbyists or foreign interests picked up some or all of the travel costs, which would be a violation of House ethics rules.
DeLay's lasting mark on Washington — his hardball politics, envelope-pushing fundraising and building of Republican dominance — have come at a price, says Mike Johnson, a lobbyist and former GOP leadership aide in the House.
Old and wise said:I would much more enjoy seeing him hanged, in public.:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Deegan said:How about we wait and see if he's guilty first, I mean, before we go hanging anyone. This is the fifth time he has been brought before a grand jury, I believe I could get him indicted with that many opportunities, lol.
TimmyBoy said:I mean, you might as well not have a grand jury and just independently charge the person. My view, is that if a prosecutor decided to go with a grand jury to get somebody indicted, he only has one chance and one chance only and he then cannot decide to independently charge the person. Otherwise, I don't see much use in a grand jury.
Deegan said:They are always going to suggest "new evidence" "new witnesses" etc, they may even have them, so there really is no getting around it. Still, this guy has a track record of poorly researched cases, paper thin evidence, and constant harassment of politicians he may disagree with, he can be changed, or kicked out of office. Sad thing is, the state set him up in this position of watch dog, so nothing will change, not anytime soon. I think it's a waste of tax payer money to make ethics violations criminal, but that is the way things have turned, enjoy the ride.:roll:
TimmyBoy said:I think it's BS that prosecutors can bring somebody up before a grand jury multiple times. Are their any sort of mechanisms in place to prevent abuse on the part of the prosecutor when bringing somebody before multiple grand juries?
kmhowe72 said:I think his picture( the mug shot )was more of statement then just another pretty picture. Basically he was saying to the prosecuters you know what. LIke the %#$@ :spin: you to the prosecuters. Basically snobbing them.
:rofl :rofl :roflFinnMacCool said:He is so happy he's getting arres4ed. Now I know for sure hes guilty.
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