Houston Chronicle
DeLay convicted of money laundering charges
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
AUSTIN – A Travis County jury today found former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay guilty of political money laundering charges relating to a corporate money swap in the 2002 elections....
DeLay was accused of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On the conspiracy charge, DeLay faces a sentence of two to 20 years in prison and five to 99 years or life in prison on the money laundering count.
In the immortal words of Megaphone Mark,
GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!!!
A caution if the DISCLOSE bill is passed in a stripped version without the provision banning
corporate campaign expenditures by government contractors:
When DeLay was in power, he attempted with some success to implement a campaign to "defund the left"
by denying access to lobbyists who hedged by contributing to both parties.
I would expect the Repugs to use the same tactics, on steroids , if only disclosure passes with no limits on amounts.
Chronicle report continues:
In preparation for the 2002 elections, DeLay cloned his Americans for a Republican Majority political committee as Texans for a Republican Majority. TRMPAC was designed to help Republicans win a state House majority in preparation for a mid-decade congressional redistricting in 2003.
That redistricting helped the Republicans take a 17-15 majority from the Democrats and win a 21-11 GOP majority in the 2004 elections.
At the center of the case against DeLay was an exchange of $190,000 in corporate donations to TRMPAC for an equal amount of money donated by individuals to the Republican National Committee. The RNC money was given to seven Texas candidates specified by TRMPAC.
Corporate money cannot be used in candidate campaigns in Texas.
r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com