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[texpatriot2004]

This second case suggests that the funneling of large amounts of money through national committees to bypass state campaign-finance laws may be more widespread, raising questions about whether federal officials have monitored such transfers as closely as is now being done by a Texas prosecutor in the DeLay case, according to watchdog groups.

Indeed, the groups maintain that officials, especially those at the Federal Election Commission, routinely fail to investigate questionable transactions. ''The limits are constantly being tested because people operate on the assumption that the enforcement agency isn't going to do anything about it," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, which wants stricter campaign finance laws.

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Just a few weeks after DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority sent its $190,000 check to the RNC, one of DeLay's former aides, Michael Scanlon, showed up at the Republican Governors Association with checks totaling $500,000.

Scanlon was working with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian gaming tribes. Abramoff was recently indicted on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, and Scanlon and Abramoff are under investigation for fraud in connection with their lobbying for the tribes.

One of Abramoff's top clients was a Mississippi Indian tribe, the Choctaws, which hoped to stop or slow the expansion of legalized gambling in neighboring Alabama. Shortly after Scanlon delivered the $500,000 from his company, Capitol Campaign Strategies, the Republican Party sent $600,000 to Bob Riley, the Republican candidate for governor of Alabama. Riley opposed the expansion of gambling and thus was favored in the election by the Choctaws. Scanlon, in addition to having once worked for DeLay, also had once worked as a staff member for Riley.

Riley won the election, defeating Governor Don Siegelman, who favored an expansion of legalized gambling. ''It looks to me that somebody wanted to hide where this money was coming from," Siegelman said of the $500,000 that went to his rival.

''It is similar" to the DeLay case, said Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, arguing that that donation's purpose, as in the DeLay case, was to bypass state laws.

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Unlike the DeLay case, no charges have been made against Scanlon and he has not spoken about the details of the transaction. Scanlon's lawyer, Stephen Braga, said he could not comment because the matter is under federal investigation.

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Initially, the RGA did not report that it had received the $500,000. The donation was not made public until April 2003, long after Riley won the election. The RGA has said the failure to report Scanlon's donation was a bookkeeping error. A Riley spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The money transfer to the Riley campaign followed earlier efforts by the Choctaws to try to stop legalized gambling in Alabama.