DRUDGE/WASH. POST: ENRON DOCUMENTS SHOW TOM DELAY'S REDISTRICTING EFFORTS

[gp]

ENRON DOCUMENTS SHOW TOM DELAY'S REDISTRICTING EFFORTS... MORE... WASH POST PLANNING ENTIRE ABOVE-FOLD FRONT PAGE SPLASH, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE. 3,200-WORD STORY... // DeLay requested donation come from 'combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives,' with the understanding that it would be partly spent on "the redistricting effort in Texas," said the e-mail to Ken Lay... The e-mail, which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of ENRON, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by POST that show DeLay and his associates directed funds from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers... MORE...

http://www.drudgereport.com

[quaoar]

1. Is anybody

actually shocked by this?

[against all enemies]

5. YES, that it actually made it to the Justice Dept. and print.

[tom_paine]

46. Exactly. Only surprised it came out on Pravda

It is very interesting, living in a nation where it is still transitioning from freedom to tyranny.

Sometimes the oddest things come out.

Of course, Imperial "Law" is fixed as Nazi Law and DeLay will walk free, on that you can count upon.

[Chico Man]

2. Holy

Cow

[KittyWampus]

18. Holy

Spotted Cow!

Glad to see some of the tentacles getting tangled up into a front page knot!

[arwalden]

40. Holy

CRAP! --- This is unbelievable!

Not that it happened... but that this story and the fact are actually seeing the light of day.

-- Allen

[cal04]

3. Just now saw that

I hope they can't find a way out of this one
Notice where he put it on the page

[Rose Siding]

4. He lawyered up just this week

Must have had a heads up. :bounce:

[Manix]

16. ...not one of them 'evil' trial lawyers I hope.

[Paradise]

37. On Point! Very Good! :) nt

[Newsjock]

6. Here's the beginning of the Washington Post story

no link yet
Enron Documents Show Delay's Redistricting Efforts
By R. Jeffrey Smith
(c) 2004, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON--In May 2001, Enron's top lobbyists in Washington advised the company chairman that then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was pressing for a $100,000 contribution to his political action committee, in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican party that year.

DeLay requested that the new donation come from ``a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives,'' with the understanding that it would be partly spent on ``the redistricting effort in Texas,'' said the e-mail to Ken Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson.

The e-mail, which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of Enron, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by The Washington Post that show DeLay and his associates directed funds from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers in Texas in 2001 and 2002, as part of a plan to redraw the state's congressional districts.

... But DeLay and his colleagues also face serious legal challenges: Texas law bars corporate financing of state legislature campaigns, and a Texas criminal prosecutor is in the 20th month of digging through the records of the fund-raising, looking at possible violations of at least three statutes. A parallel civil lawsuit, also in the midst of discovery, is seeking $1.5 million in damages from DeLay's aides and one of his political action committees--Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC)--on behalf of four defeated Democratic lawmakers.

DeLay has not been named as a target of the investigation. The prosecutor has said he is focused on the activities of political action committees linked to DeLay and the redistricting effort. But officials in the prosecutor's office say anyone involved in raising, collecting, or spending the corporate funds, who also knew of their intended use in Texas election races, is vulnerable.

[0007]

12. This will be damning to both Tom Delay and Tom Craddick

[UpInArms]

20. thank you Newsjock!

awesome news :bounce:

The day that all of these criminals are frog-marched out the door will be a good day for America.

[rawstory]

29. Newsjock, how did you get this before the Post?

Posted it?

[geek tragedy]

34. This is almost as good as seeing Bush frogmarched

Wake up, national media.

[MikeG]

7. The bug killing racket is very profitable, I hear.

[rooboy]

8. Stand clear. Bug Man's about to get 'fumigated'... n/t

[Frodo]

9. The enron connection helps, but is there an indication this is illegal?

I don't think he can raise corporate funds for redistricting efforts, but can't he just say he only spent the personal contributions on it?

[lovedems]

14. I *think* it is Texas law that you can only use corportate money for

administrative costs in campaigns such as phone bills and the like. What I think DeLay was doing (if I understood Moyers correctly) for example was, taking 200,000 from a corporation. He would then send that money to the RNC and the RNC would send him a check for 200,000 and he would give that to republican candidates to run ads or do whatever they wanted with the money. It was money laundering so the money didn't have to strictly to be used for administrative costs.

In a nutshell, Texas campaign finance laws require strict guidelines on how corporate donations can be spent and he violated those guidelines through money laundering I think.

If there is anyone who knows more about this, I would sure like clarification.

Edited to add: The redistricting was after the 2002 election so the implication being if the republican candidates won, the redistricting could then begin. By supporting the candidates you are supporting redistricting? That I am not sure of. :shrug:

[hang a left]

15. According to the article there are copies of an e-mail to Ken Lay

requesting an additional $100,000, after a $250,000 contribution was already made, specifically for the Texas redistricting efforts. And yes that is illegal.

[ozymandius]

23. Frodo, see this paragraph.

DeLay requested that the new donation come from ``a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives,'' with the understanding that it would be partly spent on ``the redistricting effort in Texas,'' said the e-mail to Ken Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson.

[Frodo]

25. I think there's a hole there.

He asked for personal AND corporate money. And he said he would spend PART of it on redistricting.

If the amount spent on redistricting didn't exceed the amount donated by individuals it wouldn't be illegal.

I have no idea what actually happened, but (like many) this Drudge story doesn't sem to actually get us anywhere. We already knew there was a suspicion that he used corporate donations for forbidden purposes... this seems to be hinting that the same thing might have happened - but doesn't provide any proof (yet).


The whole thing could end up blowing up in our face if it draws too much attention to the practice of bundling contributions at corporations (2nd level managers all make "personal" contributions to a candidate with the "wink wink nudge nudge" understanding that they will be "reimbursed" - bonuses, raises, whatever - by the guy with the REAL money).

The problem is that it seems Edwards got a large amount of his campaign funds from just this kind of practice. The story could shift pretty quickly if there aren't records of dollars going specifically to redistricting from the corporation.


As I said the first time - right now it's another link where we can use the name "Enron" with a senior Republican. By itself that can be quite usefull.

[qanda]

26. We, us, our...

Whatever!

:eyes:

[arlib]

42. Yeah....

...expect nothing less when you consider the source.

[Robbien]

30. So you are saying don't press this issue once again

Once again you say don't press another issue that is damaging to the GOP. Sure it may be illegal and downright dirty, but don't press it because maybe perhaps there is a chance the Democrats may have done something close to the same thing.

So, once again you recommend not going after the Republicans even though they have clearly screwed the American public.

Wrong!

This should be pursued. Definitely.

[Frodo]

36. That is NOT what I said.

There's a HUGE difference.

I'm just saying we don't dive into the pool headfirst based on a Drudge story until we know there is water in the pool. And yes, make sure the bottom line charge is something that won't hurt us more. Delay isn't going to lose that district (unless he goes to jail - and that won't be till after the election at best). I'd wait to see the actual documents (assuming they are due before the election). There's no need to shout "fire" TODAY when late October would be more useful.



And the First rule of politics (ok, second after "all politics is local") is "when your opponent is self-destructing, stay out of the way".


When did I recommend it before?

[fearnobush]

10. I hope this not one of the GOP's whore...Drudge's effort to expose the

story so that the GOP death machine has a chance to squash the story before its released. NEVER TRUST the GOP, anti-democracy whore DRUDGE.

[KoKo]

11. BUT..4 our of the five Repugs Investigating DeLay got Campaign Funds!

July 11, 2004, 11:35AM
Reviewers of DeLay's ethics got his money
Associated Press

AUSTIN -- Four of the five Republicans investigating an ethics complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have received campaign contributions from DeLay's political action committee, records show.

The contributions -- $28,504 split among the four during the past seven years -- were all delivered before the ethics committee received the DeLay complaint June 15. But it is an example of awkward situations spawned by the U.S. House's decision to police itself on ethics.

"I think all the members hate" serving on the committee, said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan government watchdog.

"You're put in the position of either doing nothing -- which is what they generally do -- in which case you are fairly criticized for not taking your job seriously. On the other hand, you can try to enforce the rules and get all the other members angry at you," Noble told today's Austin American-Statesman.

MORE....
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2674446

[quaoar]

13. Bingo

"Texas law bars corporate financing of state legislature campaigns."

DeLay might be changing his address to Huntsville real soon. Couldn't happen to a more deserving weasel. Too bad it's not a capital offense.

[bluestateguy]

17. This means DeLay's winning percentage could drop below 60%

There are a lot of people in Houston who were hurt by the Enron debacle, but I don't see this bombshell as being enough to end his career.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

28. It depends how far it goes

when the Rowstentowski scandals started to percolate, no one took those seriously either. . .

[jpak]

19. Forget the Two-Step and the Cotton Eye Joe

The Repugs are out to make "The Frog March" the Official State Dance of Texas...

Let the marchin' begin...

[Democat]

21. If Democrats weren't complete wimps, this would be huge!

Can you imagine if this was linked to a top Democrat - you would never hear the end of it.

Instead, we'll see if Democrats do anything or make a big deal out of it.

Many years from now we will look back on these times and wonder how we ever survived with such weak Democratic leadership and weak elected Democrats.

[soothsayer]

24. Probably less wimpy than chockablock with their own skeletons

in the closet.

Let's none of us forget that politics is a really slimy business.

[Manix]

22. ..seeing Delay doing the "perp walk" would make my day.

[kainah]

27. Washington Post link

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43219-2004Jul11.html

[Disturbed]

31. Dems in Texas got screwed...

and they didn't enjoy it.

[Robbien]

32. Not just in Texas

The redistricting will put more GOPers in the House so this nasty criminal act of theirs Cheney'd all American Democrats.

[LeftHander]

33. How did it get this bad.....

??

These guys are outright crooks!

Kick!

[dusty64]

35. Yeah whatever.

This story will be swept under the rug and they will skate away AGAIN.

[natrat]

39. and deep in the bowels

of repug central they will be high fiving at yet another thing they could get away with

[lottie244]

38. I hope everyone DeLay extorted comes forward. There are lots of them

If they do, Tom just might go to jail. What he has done is much worse then Rosenkowski or Wright.

[mbperrin]

41. Here's a little blurb on the legality of it.

<snip>
Cristen Feldman, the Texas lawyer who filed the civil suit, says in response, "I guess DeLay and his team forgot they were from Texas ... (where) the prohibition against clandestine corporate cash is 100 years old."

Many corporate donors were explicitly told in TRMPAC letters that their donations were not "disclosable" in public records.
<more>

from:http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/9134743.htm?1c

It's illegal and Tom Craddick will be goin' away with Tom Delay.

I was here when Sharpstown broke, and this has that exact same smell. Sharpstown took nearly 2 years to run its course, and this is in its 20th month.

Sweet. Couldn't happen to a ............well, you, know!

[mourningdove92]

43. This made it to the front page of both Fort Worth and

Dallas newspapers.

[arlib]

44. kick

EOM.

[Justitia]

45. Representative Morrison I presume?

One can only hope!

http://www.richardmorrisonfordistrict22.com/

[itcfish1]

47. I Dont See

the article.

:bounce: