Tom DeLay

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Tom DeLay
24th United States House of Representatives Majority Leader
In office January 3, 2003 – September 28, 2005
Deputy	Roy Blunt
Preceded by	Dick Armey
Succeeded by	Roy Blunt (Interim)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 22nd District
In office January 3, 1985 – June 9, 2006
Preceded by	Ron Paul
Succeeded by	Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Born	April 8, 1947 (1947-04-08) (age 61) Laredo, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Christine Furrh DeLay
Residence	Sugar Land, Texas
Alma mater	University of Houston
Profession	chemical executive
Religion	Baptist

Thomas Dale DeLay (born April 8, 1947) is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Sugar Land, Texas. He was House Majority Leader 2003–2005 and is a prominent member of the Republican Party.

DeLay was first elected to the House in 1984. He became known as "The Hammer" for his enforcement of party discipline in close votes and his reputation for taking political retribution on opponents. He was appointed Deputy Minority Whip in 1988 and was elected House Majority Whip in 1995 after helping Newt Gingrich to lead the Republican Revolution. In the 1990s, he helped to start the K Street Project, an effort to pressure lobbying firms to hire Republicans to top positions. DeLay was elected House Majority Leader after the 2002 midterm elections, and compelled House Republicans to unite to an unprecedented degree, especially in support of President George W. Bush's agenda. In the early 2000s, DeLay helped to coordinate efforts to redistrict congressional districts in Texas to favor the election of more Republicans.

In 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted DeLay on criminal charges that he had conspired to violate campaign finance laws during that period. DeLay denied the charges and pleaded not guilty, saying they were politically motivated and the law he was indicted under did not apply until later, but Republican Conference rules forced him to resign temporarily from his position as Majority Leader. He is is still awaiting trial. In January 2006, under pressure from fellow Republicans, DeLay announced that he would not seek to return to the position. In the months before and after this decision, two of his former aides were convicted in the Jack Abramoff scandal. DeLay ran for re-election in 2006, and won the Republican primary election in March 2006, but, citing the possibility of losing the general election, he announced in April 2006 that he would withdraw from the race and resign his seat in Congress. He resigned on June 9, 2006, and sought to remove his name from the ballot. The court battle that followed forced him to remain on the ballot, despite having withdrawn from the race.

After much judicial wrangling,^[1] DeLay's name was not on the ballot on election day. There were two elections for the House seat, a special election to fill the vacancy created by DeLay's resignation and the general election for the 110th Congress. In the general election there were three main candidates. Democrat and former US Representative Nick Lampson, Libertarian Party candidate Bob Smither, and Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. Only Lampson's and Smither's names appeared on the ballot, as Sekula-Gibbs had to run as a write-in candidate because DeLay had previously won the Republican primary.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Political career 2.1 Local politics 2.2 Early Congressional career 2.3 Controversies 2.3.1 Contributions from Russian oil executives 2.3.2 Settlement in civil suit 2.4 Majority Leader 2.4.1 Legislative and electoral methods 2.5 On the issues 2.5.1 Domestic policy 2.5.2 Foreign policy 2.6 Charity work 2.7 Accusations of misuse of federal investigative agencies 2.8 The K Street Project 2.9 Cuban cigar photo 2.10 Terri Schiavo 2.11 Jack Abramoff Scandal 2.12 Investigation of Texas fundraising and indictments 2.13 2006 campaign 2.14 Post-Congressional career 3 References 3.1 Notes 4 Further reading 5 External links 5.1 Weblog 5.2 Biography 5.3 U.S. Government links 5.4 Indictments 5.5 Other

[edit] Early life

DeLay was born in Laredo, Texas. He spent part of his childhood in Venezuela, due to his father's work in the petroleum and natural gas industry. He later attended Calallen High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, and spent two years as a pre-med student at Baylor University before he was expelled for drinking and vandalism — DeLay was caught painting a building at rival Texas A&M University green and gold, Baylor's colors. DeLay married Christine Furrh, whom he had known since high school, in 1967. The DeLays had a daughter, Danielle, in 1972.

DeLay received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology from the University of Houston in 1970. He spent three years working for Redwood Chemical. This work was the source for his nickname "the Exterminator". In the 11 years DeLay ran the company, the IRS imposed tax liens on him three times for not paying payroll and income taxes.^[2] The United States Environmental Protection Agency's ban on a certain pesticide that was used in extermination work led DeLay to oppose government regulation of businesses, a belief that he has carried with him throughout his political career.^[3]

[edit] Political career

[edit] Local politics

In 1978, DeLay won the election for an open seat in the Texas House of Representatives. He was the first Republican to represent Fort Bend County in the state House. During his time in the Texas Legislature, he struggled with alcoholism and gained a reputation as a playboy, earning the nickname "Hot Tub Tom". By the time of his election to Congress, he drank "eight, ten, twelve martinis a night at receptions and fundraisers."^[2] In 1985, DeLay became a born-again Christian, and later gave up hard liquor. He has stated that he "was no longer committing adultery by [the time of] the impeachment trial" in 1998.^[4] In 1994, Christine DeLay began volunteering as a court-appointed special advocate for children in foster care, and soon thereafter, the DeLays became foster parents to three teenage boys.

DeLay has declined to comment on reports in The New Yorker that he is estranged from much of his family, including his mother and one of his brothers.^[5] DeLay has not spoken to his younger brother, Randy, a Houston lobbyist, since 1996, when a complaint to the House Ethics Committee prompted Tom DeLay to cut his brother off in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.^[2]

DeLay was elected to the House in 1984, representing the Texas 22nd congressional district, after his predecessor, Republican Ron Paul, declined to run for re-election to run in the Republican primary for the 1984 U.S. Senate race.

[edit] Early Congressional career

As a member of the Republican minority in the 1980s, DeLay made a name for himself by criticizing the National Endowment for the Arts and the Environmental Protection Agency. During his first term in Congress, DeLay was appointed to the Republican Committee on Committees, which assigned representatives to House committees, and in his second term, he was appointed to the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a position that he retained until his election as Majority Leader in 2003. He was reappointed to the committee in 2006 after leaving his position as Majority Leader. He also served for a time as chairman of a group of conservative House Republicans known as the Republican Study Committee, and as secretary of the Republican Conference.

No one close to DeLay corroborated that DeLay attempted to serve in the military. The Washington Post reported that he had received student deferments while at Baylor, and had kept the deferment after his expulsion from Baylor in 1967. He received a high draft lottery number in 1969, and graduated from the University of Houston in 1970.

DeLay was appointed deputy whip by then-Minority Whip Dick Cheney in 1988. When the Republican Party gained control of the House in 1995 following the 1994 election, DeLay was elected Majority Whip against the wishes of House Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich.

DeLay was not always on good terms with Gingrich or Dick Armey, the House Majority Leader from 1995 to 2003, and he reportedly considered them uncommitted to Christian values. In 1997 DeLay unsuccessfully tried to remove Gingrich from his position as Speaker. Nevertheless, in the heyday of the 104th Congress (1995–1997), DeLay described the Republican leadership as a triumvirate of Gingrich, "the visionary"; Armey, "the policy wonk"; and himself, "the ditch digger who makes it all happen".^[6]

In keeping with his opposition to environmental regulation, DeLay criticized proposals to phase out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which lead to the depletion of the ozone layer. In 1995, DeLay introduced a bill to revoke the CFC ban and to repeal provisions of the Clean Air Act dealing with stratospheric ozone, arguing that the science underlying the ban was debatable.

As Majority Whip, DeLay earned the nickname "The Hammer" for his enforcement of party discipline in close votes and his reputation for wreaking political vengeance on opponents. DeLay has expressed a liking for his nickname, pointing out that the hammer is one of a carpenter's most valuable tools.^[7] In the 104th Congress, DeLay successfully whipped 300 out of 303 bills.^[8]

In 1998, DeLay worked to ensure that the House vote on impeaching President Bill Clinton was successful.^[2] DeLay rejected efforts to censure Clinton, who, DeLay said, had lied under oath.^[9] DeLay believed that the U.S. Constitution allowed the House to punish the president only through impeachment. He called on Clinton to resign and personally compelled enough House members to vote to approve two articles of impeachment.^[9][10]

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Contributions from Russian oil executives

In December 2005, the Washington Post reported that, in 1998, a group of Russian oil executives had given money to a nonprofit advocacy group run by a former DeLay staffer and funded by clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, in an attempt to influence DeLay's vote on an International Monetary Fund bailout of the Russian economy.^[11] Associates of DeLay advisor Ed Buckham, the founder of the U.S. Family Network, said that executives from the oil firm Naftasib had offered a donation of $1,000,000 to be delivered to a Washington, D.C.-area airport in order to secure DeLay's support. On June 25, 1998, the U.S. Family Network received a $1 million check via money transferred through the London law firm James & Sarch Co. This payment was the largest single entry on U.S. Family Network's donor list. The original source of the donation was not recorded.^[12] DeLay denied that the payment had influenced his vote. Naftasib denied that it had made the payment and that it had ever been represented by James & Sarch Co. The now-dissolved law firm's former partners declined to comment due to confidentiality requirements.

[edit] Settlement in civil suit

In early 1999, the The New Republic picked up a story, first reported by Houston-area alternative weeklies, alleging that DeLay had committed perjury during a civil lawsuit brought against him by a former business partner in 1994.

The plaintiff in that suit, Robert Blankenship, charged that DeLay and a third partner in Albo Pest Control had breached the partnership agreement by trying to force him out of the business without buying him out. Blankenship filed suit, charging DeLay and the other partner with breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, wrongful termination, and loss of corporate expectancy. While being deposed in that suit, DeLay claimed that he did not think that he was an officer or director of Albo and that he believed that he had resigned two or three years previously.^[2] However, his congressional disclosure forms, including one filed subsequent to the deposition, stated that he was either president or chairman of the company between 1985 and 1994. Blankenship also alleged that Albo money had been spent on DeLay's congressional campaigns, in violation of federal and state law.

DeLay and Blankenship settled for an undisclosed sum. Blankenship's attorney said that had he known about the congressional disclosure forms, he would have referred the case to the Harris County district attorney's office for a perjury prosecution. DeLay has never been charged with a crime in connection with this case.

[edit] Majority Leader

After serving as his party's Whip for eight years, DeLay was elected Majority Leader upon the retirement of Dick Armey in 2003. His tenure as Majority Leader was marked by strong Republican party discipline and by parliamentary and redistricting efforts to preserve Republican control of the House.

After being indicted on September 28, 2005, DeLay stepped down from his position as Majority Leader. He was the first congressional leader ever to be indicted.^[13] Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri took over as acting leader.^[14] On January 7, 2006, after weeks of growing pressure from Republican colleagues, and particularly from Reps. Charlie Bass and Jeff Flake,^[15] who wanted to avoid being associated with DeLay's legal issues in an election year, DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain his position as Majority Leader.

[edit] Legislative and electoral methods

DeLay was known to "primary" Republicans who resisted his votes (i.e., to threaten to endorse and to support a Republican primary challenge to the disobedient representative),^[16] and, like many of his predecessors in Congress, used promises of future committee chairmanships to bargain for support among the rank-and-file members of the party.^{[citation needed]}

Employing a method known as "catch and release," DeLay allowed centrist or moderately conservative Republicans to take turns voting against controversial bills. If a representative said that a bill was unpopular in his district, then DeLay would ask him to vote for it only if his vote were necessary for passage; if his vote were not needed, then the representative would be able to vote against the party without reprisal.^{[citation needed]}

In the 108th Congress, a preliminary Medicare vote passed 216-215, a vote on Head Start passed 217-216, a vote on school vouchers for Washington, D.C. passed 209-208, and "Fast track," usually called "trade promotion authority", passed by one vote as well. Both political supporters and opponents remarked on DeLay's ability to sway the votes of his party, a method DeLay described as "growing the vote".

DeLay was also noted for involving lobbyists in the process of passing House bills. One lobbyist said, "I've had members pull me aside and ask me to talk to another member of Congress about a bill or amendment, but I've never been asked to work on a bill — at least like they are asking us to whip bills now."^[17]

DeLay's ability to raise money gave him additional influence. During the 2004 election cycle, DeLay's political action committee ARMPAC was one of the top contributors to Republican congressional candidates, contributing over $980,000 in total.^[18] Partly as a result of DeLay's management abilities, the House Republican caucus under him displayed unprecedented, sustained party cohesion.^[19]

On September 30, 2004, the House Ethics Committee unanimously admonished DeLay because he "offered to endorse Representative [Nick] Smith's son in exchange for Representative Smith's vote in favor of the Medicare bill."^[20]

[edit] On the issues

[edit] Domestic policy

In 2001, DeLay defied President George W. Bush when DeLay refused to increase the Earned Income Credit (EIC) tax credit during the congressional battle over Bush's tax cuts for people making between $10,500 and $26,625 a year; when reporters asked DeLay about what he would do about increasing the EIC, DeLay simply stated, "[It] ain't going to happen." When Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer reiterated the president's desire for a low-income tax cut, DeLay retorted, "The last time I checked they [the executive branch] don't have a vote."^[21]

DeLay was rated a 2.77 out of 100 by the Progressive Punch website for his votes regarding corporate subsidies, government checks on corporate power, human rights and civil liberties, labor rights and environmental policy.^[22]

On economic policy, DeLay was rated 95 out of 100 by Americans for Tax Reform, and 95 to 100 by the United States Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobby. On environmental policy, he earned ratings of zero from the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters. He has been a fervent critic of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which he has called the "Gestapo of government".^[23] DeLay is for gun rights in the gun politics debate.^[2] The American Civil Liberties Union measured that his voting history aligned with their civil liberties platform zero percent of the time.^[24]

DeLay blamed Senate Democrats and what he called "BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) environmentalists" for blocking legislative solutions to problems such as the 2003 North America blackout.^[25]

DeLay maintained public silence on Houston's 2003 METRORail light rail initiative, though in the past, he had opposed expanding light rail to Houston. Public filings later showed that DeLay had his Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARMPAC) and his congressional campaign committee send money to Texans for True Mobility, an organization that advocated against the initiative. The proposal passed by a slim margin.^[26] Despite his earlier opposition, following the passage of the initiative, DeLay helped to obtain funding for the light rail program.^[27]

DeLay is pro-life.^[2] In 2005, he voted 100 percent in line with the views of the National Right to Life Committee and zero percent with the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League.^[28]

DeLay supported the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Critics of this law argued that it unduly favors creditors over consumers, and noted that the credit card industry spent millions of dollars lobbying in support of the act.^[29]

In 2004, the House Ethics Committee unanimously admonished DeLay for his actions related to a 2002 energy bill. A Committee memo stated that DeLay "created the appearance that donors were being provided with special access to Representative DeLay regarding the then-pending energy legislation."^[30]

In 2005, DeLay, acting against the president's wishes, initiated the "safe harbor" provision for MTBE in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, together with Rep. Joe Barton.^[31] This provision would have retroactively protected the makers of the gasoline additive from lawsuits. The provision was dropped from the final bill.

DeLay opposes the teaching of the theory of evolution. After the Columbine High School massacre, he entered into the congressional record a statement saying that shootings happened in part "because our school systems teach our children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized [sic] out of some primordial soup of mud."^[32]

[edit] Foreign policy

DeLay has been a strong supporter of the State of Israel, saying, "The Republican leadership, especially that leadership in the House, has made pro-Israel policy a fundamental component of our foreign policy agenda and it drives the Democrat [sic] leadership crazy — because they just can’t figure out why we do it!"^[33] In a 2002 speech, DeLay promised to "use every tool at my disposal to ensure that the Republican Conference, and the House of Representatives, continues to preserve and strengthen America's alliance with the State of Israel."^[34]

On a 2003 trip to Israel, DeLay toured the nation and addressed members of the Knesset. His opposition to land concessions is so strong that Aryeh Eldad, the deputy of Israel's conservative National Union Party, remarked, "As I shook his hand, I told Tom DeLay that until I heard him speak, I thought I was farthest to the right in the Knesset."^[35] Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said "The Likud is nothing compared to this guy."^[36]

In 2005, in a snub to the Bush administration, DeLay was the "driving force behind the rejection of direct aid" to the Palestinian Authority. The deal was "brokered" by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In the wake of the legislation, some Jewish leaders expressed concern "about the degree to which the Texas Republican, an evangelical Christian who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, will go to undercut American and Israeli attempts to achieve a two-state solution."^[37]

DeLay has long been a strong critic of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's regime, which DeLay has called a "thugocracy", and a supporter of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

[edit] Charity work

In 2003, DeLay set up a charity for abused and neglected children, with part of the funds going to the 2004 GOP convention. The New York Times described it as "aides to Mr. DeLay... acknowledged that part of the money would go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush's speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises. ... "They are using the idea of helping children as a blatant cover for financing activities in connection with a convention with huge unlimited, undisclosed, unregulated contributions," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington group that helped push through the recent overhaul of the campaign finance laws."

DeLay also founded a community known as Rio Bend.^[38] This community has a mission to provide a home and community for abused and neglected children in the foster care system. The ground breaking ceremony was in September 2003 and the grand opening for the Christ-centered community was in August 2005. The intention is to build additional 24 homes to this community. Later, the DeLay's would like to change the landscape of the foster system throughout the states and use the Rio Bend community as a model.

[edit] Accusations of misuse of federal investigative agencies

During the Texas redistricting warrant controversy, several Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives fled to Oklahoma to prevent the House from establishing a quorum of members, thereby preventing the House from acting on any legislation. Although not a member of the Texas legislature, DeLay became involved, by contacting several federal agencies in order to determine the location of the missing legislators. DeLay's staff contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for assistance in tracking down a plane that one of the legislators was flying to Oklahoma, an action that the FAA believed to be a result of safety concerns about the aircraft.^[39] A review by the U.S. Department of Transportation found that a total of thirteen FAA employees spent more than eight hours searching for the airplane.^[40] Members of DeLay's staff asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest the missing Democrats. The FBI dismissed the request as "wacko".^[39] DeLay also contacted United States Marshal and United States Attorney's offices in Texas, as well as the Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center, an agency that deals with smuggling and terrorism.^[41]

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut) requested an investigation into DeLay's involvement in the requests, and asked that any White House involvement be reported. The House Ethics Committee admonished DeLay for improper use of FAA resources, and for involving federal agencies in a matter that should have been resolved by Texas authorities.^[42]

[edit] The K Street Project

See also: K Street Project

DeLay's involvement with the lobbying industry included a pointed effort on the part of the Republican Party to parlay the Congressional majority into dominance of K Street, the lobbying district of Washington, D.C. DeLay, Senator Rick Santorum, and Grover Norquist launched a campaign in 1995 encouraging lobbying firms to retain Republican officials in top positions. Firms that had Democrats in positions of authority, DeLay suggested, would not be granted the ear of majority party members.

In 1999, DeLay was privately reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee after he pulled an important intellectual property rights bill off of the House floor when the Electronics Industries Alliance hired a former Democratic Congressman, Dave McCurdy.^[43]

Firms initially responded to the campaign, but it waned during 2004, when the possibility of Senator John Kerry's winning the presidency gave lobbying firms some incentive to hire Democrats.^[44]

[edit] Cuban cigar photo

DeLay has long been a strong critic of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's regime, which DeLay has called a "thugocracy", and a supporter of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. However, in April 2005, Time Magazine published a photo from a government-funded July 2003 trip to Israel, in which DeLay is seen smoking a Cuban cigar.^[45] The consumption or purchase of Cuban cigars is illegal in the United States (but was, at the time, not illegal abroad). Since September 2004, the U.S. Treasury Department's enforcement of the law has been toughened to forbid consumption (smoking) or purchase of Cuban cigars by U.S. citizens anywhere in the world.^[46]

[edit] Terri Schiavo

See also: Government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case

DeLay made headlines for his role in the Terri Schiavo controversy. On Palm Sunday weekend in March 2005, several days after the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube was disconnected for the third time, the House met in emergency session to pass a bill allowing Schiavo's parents to petition a federal judge to review the removal of the feeding tube. DeLay called the removal of the feeding tube "an act of barbarism." DeLay faced accusations of hypocrisy from critics when the Los Angeles Times revealed that he had consented to ending life support for his father, who had been in a comatose state because of a debilitating accident in 1988.^[47]

DeLay was accused of endorsing violence in the wake of a series of high-profile violent crimes and death threats against judges when he said, "The men responsible [for Terri Schiavo's death] will have to answer to their behavior." DeLay's comments came soon after the February 28, 2005 homicide of the mother and husband of Chicago Judge Joan Lefkow, and the March 11, 2005 killing of Atlanta Judge Rowland Barnes. DeLay's opponents accused him of rationalizing violence against judges when their decisions were unpopular with the public. Ralph Neas, President of People for the American Way, said that DeLay's comments were "irresponsible and could be seen by some as justifying inexcusable conduct against our courts."^[48] DeLay publicly apologized for the remark after being accused of threatening the Supreme Court.

[edit] Jack Abramoff Scandal

Abramoff Scandal

Events and scandals Indian lobbying scandal Guam investigation Marianas/Saipan scandal Internet gambling Monetary influence SunCruz Casinos Plead guilty Jack Abramoff (70 months) John Albaugh Jared Carpenter (45 days) Robert Coughlin Italia Federici (48 months probation) J. Steven Griles (10 months) William Heaton (24 months probation) Adam Kidan (70 months) Bob Ney (30 months) Tony Rudy Michael Scanlon Roger Stillwell (24 months probation) Neil Volz (24 months probation) Mark Zachares Convicted David Safavian (18 months) Indicted Kevin A. Ring Named but not charged Ed Buckham Tom DeLay Tom Feeney Ernest Istook Others Team Abramoff Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis Grover Norquist Amy Ridenour Susan Ralston Ralph Reed Lou Sheldon Lists Related organizations Tribal clients Trips funded Timeline of events Category

This box: view • talk • edit

See also: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal

DeLay may be one of the targets of the Justice Department investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's actions. Abramoff allegedly provided DeLay with trips, gifts, and political donations in exchange for favors to Abramoff's lobbying clients, which included the government of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Internet gambling services, and several Native American tribes.^[49] Two of DeLay's former political aides, Tony Rudy and Michael Scanlon, as well as Abramoff himself, pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges relating to the investigation. Political columnist Robert Novak has since reported that Abramoff "has no derogatory information about former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and is not implicating him as part of his plea bargain with federal prosecutors."^[50]

According to ABC's 20/20 television program, Abramoff lobbied DeLay to stop legislation banning sex shops and sweatshops that forced employees to have abortions in the Northern Mariana Islands when Abramoff accompanied DeLay on a 1997 trip to the U.S. commonwealth. While on the trip, DeLay promised not to put the bill on the legislative calendar.^[51]

In 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a worker reform bill to extend the protection of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the Northern Mariana Islands. DeLay, then the House Republican Whip, stopped the House from considering the bill.^[52] DeLay later blocked a fact-finding mission planned by Rep. Peter Hoekstra by threatening him with the loss of his subcommittee chairmanship.^[51]

DeLay received gifts from Abramoff, including paid golfing holidays to Scotland, concert tickets, and the use of Abramoff's private skyboxes for fundraisers. In May 2000, ARMPAC received the free use of one of Abramoff's private skyboxes to host a political fundraiser. At the time, campaign finance laws did not require the use of the skybox, valued at several thousand dollars, to be disclosed or for Abramoff to be reimbursed for its use.^[53]

Later that month, the DeLays, Rudy, another aide, and Abramoff took a trip to London and Scotland. Abramoff paid for the airfare for the trip, and lobbyist Ed Buckham paid for expenses at a hotel at St. Andrews golf course in Scotland.^[54] Abramoff was reimbursed by The National Center for Public Policy Research, the nonprofit organization that arranged the trip. On the day that the trip began, The National Center received large donations from two of Abramoff's clients, internet lottery service eLottery, Inc., and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Both organizations denied that they had intended to pay for DeLay's trip.^[55] House rules forbid members to accept travel expenses from lobbyists, and require that members inquire into the sources of funds that nonprofits use to pay for trips. DeLay denied knowing that lobbyists had paid for travel expenses. In July 2000, DeLay voted against a bill that would have restricted Internet gambling. Both eLottery and the Choctaws opposed the bill.^[55] Rudy, who was then DeLay's deputy chief of staff, doomed the bill by engineering a parliamentary maneuver that required a two-thirds majority vote, rather than a simple majority, in order for the bill to pass. Rudy's actions on behalf of Abramoff's clients during this time were mentioned in Abramoff's guilty plea in January 2006.^[56]

In January 2006, The Associated Press reported that in 2001, DeLay co-signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft calling for the closure of a casino owned by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. Two weeks earlier, the Choctaws had donated $1,000 to DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC). A DeLay spokesman denied that the donations had influenced DeLay's actions.^[57] Currently, and at the time of the letter, casinos or other private gambling establishments are illegal in Texas, even on Indian reservations.^[58]

Scanlon, who became Abramoff's lobbying partner, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to conspiracy charges.^[59] Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy charges on January 3, 2006, and agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation. His cooperation may have forced DeLay to abandon his efforts to return to his position as House Majority Leader,^[56] a decision that DeLay announced only a few days after Abramoff's plea bargain. Rudy pleaded guilty on March 31, 2006, to illegally acting on Abramoff's behalf in exchange for gifts.^[60]

Abramoff referred clients to Ed Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group (ASG), a lobbying firm. In addition, Abramoff clients gave more than $1.5 million to Buckham's U.S. Family Network, which then paid ASG more than $1 million.^[61]

From 1998 to 2002, ASG paid Christine DeLay a monthly salary averaging between $3,200 and $3,400. DeLay's attorney, Richard Cullen, initially said the payments were for telephone calls she made periodically to the offices of certain members of Congress seeking the names of their favorite charities, and that she then forwarded that information to Buckham, along with some information about those charities. In early June 2006, Cullen said the payments were also for general political consulting she provided to her husband. In all, Christine DeLay was paid about $115,000 directly by ASG, and got another $25,000 via money put into a retirement account by the firm.^[62] Her work with ASG has been the subject of an inquiry by the Department of Justice.^[49][63]

[edit] Investigation of Texas fundraising and indictments

Main article: Tom DeLay campaign finance investigation

[edit] 2006 campaign

Main article: Texas 22nd congressional district election, 2006

[edit] Post-Congressional career

On December 10, 2006, DeLay launched a weblog that is, as of 2006, ghostwritten based on DeLay's ideas.^[64]

On March 14, 2007, DeLay co-authored No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight (ISBN 1595230343) with Stephen Mansfield. He appeared on The Colbert Report on May 17, 2007 to promote the book.^[65]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Burka, Paul (May 1, 2006). "Without DeLay", Texas Monthly. 
• Byrne, John (April 6, 2005). "DeLay daughter's baby shower held by Texas energy firm under investigation", The Raw Story. 
• "DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader", CNN (September 29, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-04-15. 
• Dix, George (October 21, 2005). "Tom DeLay's Challenge to Texas Grand Jury Process". JURIST.
• Eilperin, Juliet (September 22, 2000). "DeLay Thanks Lobbyists With Vegas Trip", The Washington Post. 
• Flaherty, Peter (September 23, 2004). "Texas Smear Machine Targets DeLay", The American Spectator. 
• Gamboa, Suzanne (June 23, 2004). "Ethics Panel Reviewing DeLay Complaint", The Associated Press. 
• Keane, Meghan (May 21, 2004). "Tom's Kids", The National Review. 
• Noah, Timothy (May 4, 1999). "What Did You Do in the War, Hammer?", Slate.com. 
• Perl, Peter (April 9, 2006). "DeLay's Next Mission From God", The Washington Post. 
• "Report of the Audit Division on Americans for a Republican Majority" (PDF). PoliticalMoneyLine.com.
• Rice, Ned (March 23, 2005). "Bugged By Tom DeLay", The National Review. 
• Schlader, Marty (May 15, 2005). "DeLay Disputes Charges Of Abuse In Saipan", The Galveston County Daily News. 
• Smith, R. Jeffrey (September 9, 2005). "DeLay PAC Is Indicted For Illegal Donations", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2006-04-17. 

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	Learning resources

[edit] Weblog

• Tom DeLay.com

[edit] Biography

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post

[edit] U.S. Government links

• DeLay testimony to the Committee on Resources, April 12, 2000, in which he argued against restrictions on oil exploration
• Investigation of Certain Allegations Related to Voting on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, Report of the Committee of Standards of Official Conduct, September 30, 2004. 72-page pdf file.

[edit] Indictments

• Copy of conspiracy indictment State of Texas v. Colyandro, Ellis & DeLay (PDF)
• Copy of money laundering indictment State of Texas v. Colyandro, Ellis & DeLay (PDF)

[edit] Other

• THE BIG BUY: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress is a documentary about the politics of Tom Delay.

Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by Joe A. Hubenak	Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 21 (Sugar Land) 1979–1983	Succeeded by Mark Stiles
Preceded by Jack R. Hawkins	Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 26 (Sugar Land) 1983–1985	Succeeded by Jim Tallas
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Ron Paul	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 22nd congressional district 1985–June 9, 2006	Succeeded by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Party political offices
Preceded by David Bonior Michigan	House Majority Whip 1995–2003	Succeeded by Roy Blunt Missouri
Preceded by Newt Gingrich Georgia	House Republican Whip 1995–2003
Preceded by Richard K. Armey Texas	House Majority Leader House Republican Leader 2003–September 28, 2005	Succeeded by Roy Blunt (acting) Missouri

v • d • e Majority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives Payne • Underwood • Kitchin • Mondell • Longworth • Tilson • Rainey • Byrns • Bankhead • Rayburn • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • Wright • Foley • Gephardt • Armey • DeLay • Blunt (acting) • Boehner • Hoyer

v • d • e Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn

Persondata
NAME	DeLay, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Delay, Thomas Dale; DeLay, Thomas
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American Republican politician
DATE OF BIRTH	April 8, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH	Laredo, Texas
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH