Texas Republican Officials Indicted: Delay untouched

[Epitome22]

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/09/22indictments.html?Found_Session=false&UrAuth=`NXN UOaNUUbTTUWUXUUUZTZU`UWU]U_UZU]U^UcTYWYWZV


Republican Majority officials indicted in fund-raising investigation
Attorney says seven companies, three individuals named


By Laylan Copelin

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

A Travis County grand jury on Tuesday indicted three top lieutenants of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in connection with corporate money raised during the 2002 elections.

Indicted on one count of money laundering were John Colyandro, the executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, and Jim Ellis, a former DeLay staff member now head of Americans for a Republican Majority, DeLay's national fund-raising political action committee.

Colyandro also was indicted on 14 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution.

Warren Robold, DeLay's corporate fund-raiser, based in Washington, D.C., was indicted on 18 counts; nine of unlawful political contribution by a corporation and nine of accepting those contributions.

The money-laundering counts are first-degree felonies, punishable by up to life in prison; the rest are third-degree felonies, with a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Seven corporate donors and an alliance of nursing-home companies also were indicted.

The indictments came after almost two years of an investigation into Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee that DeLay created to elect a Republican majority in the Texas House of Representatives.

The scope and number of indictments stunned defense lawyers, who had expected only a handful of charges.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m.

The first announcement of the indictments didn't come from Earle. Instead, Austin lawyer Steve Brittain, an attorney for DeLay, broke the news.

Brittain said he was surprised by the extent of the indictments, but defended what the political action committee did.

"All these people felt comfortable they were not violating the laws," he said. "We don't believe anyone intentionally violated the law."

Tuesday's indictments do not mark the end of the investigation. Another grand jury is expected to take up the inquiry into several other groups who allegedly used corporate money in the 2002 elections.

Texas for Public Justice, Common Cause and Public Citizen called on House Speaker Tom Craddick to step aside pending conclusion of the investigation.

Craig McDonald with Texans for Public Justice said Craddick raised money for the political action committee and distributed it.

"Craddick is at the center of all of this," he said. "If TRMPAC operatives broke the law, Craddick needs to step aside until we figure it out. If TRMPAC operatives are convicted, the House needs to elect a new speaker."

Craddick has denied any wrongdoing.

The money-laundering charges stem from an incident in which Colyandro sent Ellis, who is based in Washington, D.C., a blank check for the Republican National Committee. On Sept. 13, 2002, Ellis delivered a check for $190,000 in corporate money from the political action committee to the Republican National Committee. He also gave the committee a list of seven Texas candidates with suggested donation amounts. The candidates, including Austin's Todd Baxter and Jack Stick, received a total of $190,000 in noncorporate money. Neither Baxter nor Stick is accused of wrongdoing.

The alliance and companies indicted are: The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (a group of 14 nursing home companies), The Williams Companies, Sears and Roebuck, Westar Energy, Bacardi USA, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Diversified Collection Services and Questerra Corp.

The nursing home alliance gave $50,000; Diversified Collection donated $50,000; Bacardi gave $20,000; the rest donated $25,000 each.

Following the Republican sweep of the 2002 elections, Earle began investigating allegations that Republicans and their business allies used unprecedented amounts of corporate cash to affect the elections.

State law generally prohibits using corporate or labor union money for political purposes except to pay for the administrative expenses of a political action committee.

Texans for a Republican Majority spent $1.5 million during the election, including $600,000 of corporate money that was spent on consultants, pollsters and phone banks. But lawyers for the political action committee argued that the money was spent for the benefit of the committee and not directly on behalf of candidates.

[Epitome22]

Richard Morrison issued a press release that says, in part:

Today?s indictment clearly shows DeLay sold legislative favors to the highest corporate bidder,? said Morrison. ?I call on the House Ethics committee to follow the Travis County grand jury?s lead and continue the investigation in Washington. If DeLay is found guilty, he should step down as Majority Leader and resign his seat in Congress. The people of Texas deserve an honorable representative in Washington.?

[knowitall]

This can't be true. Reps live on the high moral ground, and they make a living from their salaries. Stop attempting to tie Cheney and Bush to Halliburton. Legislative favors do not exist. There is no connection to big business and politics. You, Sir, should be banned from this forum.

[knowitall]

This can't be true. Reps live on the high moral ground, and they make a living from their salaries. Stop attempting to tie Cheney and Bush to Halliburton. Legislative favors do not exist. There is no connection to big business and politics. You, Sir, should be banned from this forum.

[MavKikiNYC]

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m.

There's a surprise.

[Epitome22]

Nice to know where the outrage is.

[Epitome22]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...9736789.htm?1c


Wow, it seems like every one around DeLay is getting rung up. He must be a magnet for crookedness.

INDICTMENTS


Bacardi charged in Texas election scandal

Bacardi has been indicted on charges of making an illegal contribution to a Republican political action committee in Texas.

BY CHRISTINA HOAG

choag@herald.com


A Texas grand jury has indicted Bacardi USA on charges of making a $20,000 illegal campaign contribution to Texas Republican state legislative candidates in 2002, in a case linked to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political fund-raising activities.

Miami-based Bacardi was named in the indictment along with seven other companies, including Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, and three top political aides to DeLay.

The House majority leader was not indicted. But a money laundering allegation in a congressional ethics complaint filed against DeLay involves the same $190,000 in political contributions that led to indictments of the aides.

Corporate contributions to state legislative candidates are illegal in Texas. If convicted, Bacardi faces fines of up to $20,000. The indictment alleges that the companies funneled contributions through DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority.

The sweeping case stems back to the 2002 elections in Texas, which resulted in the Republicans gaining control of the state House of Representatives. The next session included a divisive effort to redistrict the state, during which Democrats left Texas en masse to prevent a quorum.

The district attorney in Travis County, which includes the state capital of Austin, announced 32 counts in the indictment.

''What has emerged is the outline of an effort to use corporate contributions to control representative democracy in Texas,'' said District Attorney Ronald Earle.

Earle is a Democrat but denied that the indictments were politically motivated.

Bacardi did not return phone calls Wednesday seeking comment.

The indictment comes as the rum maker is waging an international legal and political battle to gain the U.S. rights to the Havana Club rum trademark. The brand is now held by the Cuban government and French liquor giant Pernod Ricard in a joint venture, Havana Club Holdings.

Bacardi scored a major victory in 1998 when a spending bill included language granting the company the U.S. rights to the name.

But after the French government complained, the World Trade Organization ordered the United States to revise the law, known as Section 211, to bring it into compliance with WTO rules.

The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Office in January decided that Bacardi could not use the famed trademark. Bacardi is now suing to overturn the ruling.

The company, which is owned by a Cuban exile family, has also been lobbying in Washington for another bill that would effectively grant it the trademark as well as satisfy WTO rules.

DeLay has been a key backer of the legislation, which is going through both the House and Senate with bipartisan support.

According to the indictment, in 2002 Bacardi and the other companies made contributions to DeLay's PAC, which turned over the money to the Republican National Committee.

The committee funneled the donations to seven candidates for the Texas House via the Republican National State Elections Committee.

Elections law expert Kenneth A. Gross said the indictment could be an overreach.

''People make donations and [the money] makes its way to another entity. That happens all the time,'' said Gross, former head of enforcement for the Federal Elections Commission.

The indictment is not the first time Bacardi has come under fire for its political contributions and efforts to win the Havana Club trademark.

In May, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission over Bacardi's failure to file timely reports on its donations to PACs and Capitol Hill campaign committees.

Bacardi's political action committee made unreported contributions to five members of Congress, including Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. Four of those members, including Nelson and the Diaz-Balart brothers, signed on as co-sponsors of the trademark bill. The allegations were first reported by the Miami Daily Business Review.

''The Bacardi USA Inc. PAC has a pattern of flagrantly violating campaign finance laws,'' said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, in a statement. ``How many times can one company make secret contributions to Tom DeLay before the government steps in?''

DeLay has denied any improper dealings.

In response to the Texas indictment, he said in a statement Tuesday: ''This has been an investigation that has been underway for nearly two years, and 40 days before the election, they've suddenly taken action. You do the political math,'' he said.

``I'll reiterate what I've said before and [this] action emphasizes: I have not been subpoenaed, I have not been asked to testify, and I have not been called as a witness. They've made clear this investigation is not about me.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[kg_veteran]

Originally posted by: Epitome22
Nice to know where the outrage is.

What do you mean by this?

[kg_veteran]

Texas Smear Machine Targets DeLay
By Peter Flaherty
CNSNews.com Commentary
September 23, 2004
link

If nothing else, you have to give Travis County Democrats credit for thinking big, like real Texans. Apparently undaunted that the assault on President Bush's National Guard service blew up in their faces, they are now trying to bring down House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

All roads in the CBS memo scandal traverse Travis County. Dan Rather was the special guest at a 2001 fundraiser for the Travis County Democratic Party, and his daughter is active in the organization.

Former National Guardsman Bill Burkett, the unstable Bush-baiter, who now claims he was the source of the forged documents, is represented (and many believe directed) by David Van Os, the former Travis County Democratic Party chairman.

Now Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat with a history of bringing politically motivated indictments, has indicted three DeLay aides who ran a political action committee called Texans for a Republican Majority PAC.

Perhaps recognizing that indicting DeLay himself 41 days before an election would be just too transparent, Earle instead indicted the three underlings for allegedly directing corporate contributions to Texas legislative candidates in 2002.

At stake in 2002 was control of the Texas legislature, which was to redraw Congressional district lines. Corporate contributions to legislative candidates are illegal in Texas. The DeLay aides stand accused of violating that prohibition, along with eight companies like Sears Roebuck that provided the funds.

The corporate money, however, never went to the candidates. Instead, it went to a much larger fund for state elections controlled by the Republican National Committee in Washington. That committee made contributions to Texas legislative candidates, constituting what Earle now charges is "money laundering."

The only problem is that similar transactions are conducted by both parties in many states, including Texas. In fact, on October 31, 2002, the Texas Democratic Party sent the Democratic National Committee (DNC) $75,000, and on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $75,000.

On July 19, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000 and, again on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000. On June 8, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000. That very same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000.

Earle's last foray into politicized prosecution in 1993 turned into a huge embarrassment when he went after Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), who was then Texas Treasurer. Earle made a series of trumped-up charges, including that the demure Hutchison had physically assaulted an employee. Earle dropped the case during the trial.

DeLay has been the target of previous legal harassment. Four years ago, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, under the chairmanship of Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) filed a lawsuit under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO was designed as a tool against organized crime, but Kennedy argued that
DeLay's relationships with Washington lobbyists amounted to "extortion."

Even some liberal commentators criticized the suit as frivolous. It eventually was thrown out.

This year, lame duck Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX), who lost a March primary, filed a Complaint with the House Ethics Committee, citing many of the same circumstances in the Earle indictments.

For good measure, Bell echoed Kennedy's "extortion" allegations and claimed DeLay "misused" his office by asking the Federal Aviation Administration and Justice Department to help find Texas legislators who fled to Oklahoma to deny Republicans a quorum needed to pass the redistricting plan. Since Bell had, in effect, been redistricted out of his seat, his allegations were colored, but did not stop the media from repeating them.

Ironically, DeLay's Democratic counterpart in the House, Nancy Pelosi, has been involved in wholesale and indisputable election law violations, but has been absent from the headlines. Pelosi is a champion of what is called "campaign finance reform."

The clearest and most fundamental tenet of current election law is the limitation of contributions. Yet, Pelosi's committees have engaged in a massive circumvention of the limitation, even as Pelosi was a key player in passing additional "reform" measures such as McCain-Feingold.

Earlier this year, the Federal Election Commission fined two so-called leadership PACs associated with Pelosi in response to a Complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center. The purpose of leadership PACs is to make contributions to the campaigns of other Congressional candidates. House and Senate Leaders are allowed one leadership PAC in addition to their own campaign committee.

Pelosi set up two. Her second PAC made $5,000 contributions to thirty-six campaigns that had already received the $5,000 maximum from the first. The treasurer of both PACs candidly admitted that the "main reason" for setting up the second PAC was to "give twice as much (sic) hard dollars."

Some of the enmity directed at DeLay results from his success in the Texas redistricting. It is rank hypocrisy to suggest that his actions are unprecedented or inappropriate. After all, the King of Redistricting is still the late Democratic Rep. Phil Burton of California.

In a 2003 tribute, Pelosi gushed, "his true artistry was displayed when it came to redistricting. One press account described it as 'Phil Burton's contribution to modern art.' For almost three decades, he painted the political landscape of Californians in the House from his palette."

(Peter Flaherty is President of the National Legal and Policy Center, a foundation promoting ethics in public life. The group sponsors the Government Integrity Project.)

[Epitome22]

DeLay vs. The Facts

From a Chris Bell Press Release:


The Myth:

"This investigation isn't about me", explained House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Tuesday about his colleague's indictments. "All I did was help raise money. I didn't have anything to do with where it went."

As reported in today's Los Angeles Times.

The Facts:

Although Mr. DeLay claims to have no connection with the three associates indicted on Tuesday, his statements do not agree with the facts. According to deposition testimony offered by defendant John Colyandro, the executive director of TRMPAC, DeLay is directly involved with TRMPAC. DeLay served was the head of TRMPAC's advisory board and was integrally involved in its administration. According to the deposition testimony of John Colyandro, there were regular conference calls "to discuss matters related to the overall administration of the committee."

"When it came to broadly making decisions about who, which candidates we would support and with what amount of financial assistance, at that point the advisory board was involved with those types of decisions." - John Colynadro, sworn testimony

An October 4, 2002, memo from TRMPAC fundraiser Susan Lilly discussed an upcoming conference call with donors in which Rep. DeLay would "update everyone on TRMPAC's efforts to date and to discuss our strategy for victory in the final weeks of the campaign.

[Epitome22]

Money Laundering and Bribery

Whatever else you can say about the charges against DeLay Inc., they're very serious.

Quoted from Bernstein & Mann"

Money Laundering

Ellis is charged with one count of money laundering. The Virginia-based consultant serves as executive director of DeLay's national PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority. When the redistricting battle brought chaos to the state Legislature in 2003, Ellis actively worked with Republican leaders to ensure that DeLay obtained his congressional map. Yet it is a six-figure check that is at the root of the grand jury's first-degree felony charge against Ellis.


According to the indictment, in September 2002 Ellis took a total of $190,000 in corporate contributions received by Texans for a Republican Majority that could not legally be used to help elect candidates and gave it as a lump-sum check to the Republican National State Elections Committee. The indictment charges that at about the same time, Ellis provided the elections committee with a list containing the names of Texas Republican House candidates as well as how much each should receive. Two weeks after receiving the check, the elections committee turned around and sent $190,000 in seven contributions to the specified candidates. The first-degree felony charge is punishable by five years to life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.


Bribery

The grand jury also indicted eight companies for donating money to TRM. The corporations allegedly were aware that the cash was earmarked for political work. That's a third-degree felony. Seven of the eight indicted companies have direct political ties to DeLay. Bacardi USA, for instance (indicted for a $20,000 contribution to TRM on July 3, 2002), has been a spirited contributor to Americans for a Republican Majority and one of DeLay's biggest backers for years. DeLay is reportedly working diligently in Congress to pass what's known as the "Bacardi bill." The legislation would grant the Miami-based liquor company U.S. trade rights to the Havana Club rum label owned partially by the Cuban government. Critics have lambasted the legislation as a corporate handout and charged that Bacardi bought DeLay's support.


Similarly, Kansas-based Westar Energy, also indicted on Tuesday, gave $25,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority. The company apparently believed its cash would win DeLay's approval of a House energy bill amendment favorable to Westar. A company official wrote that the contribution would earn Westar "a seat at the table," according to internal e-mails uncovered last year in a federal investigation and first reported by the Washington Post. In another instance, a contributor seemed to think DeLay and TRM were intertwined. On July 14, 2002, the Williams Companies, a Tulsa, Okla., natural gas outfit, sent its $25,000 corporate contribution to TRM with a note that reads, "Dear Congressman DeLay ... I'm pleased to forward our contribution for $25,000." Williams was also indicted on Tuesday for its involvement with TRM.

Tsk..Tsk

[Epitome22]

It Ain't Over

From the Texas Observer staff by way of Salon.com:

Prosecutors did make clear, however, that Tuesday's indictments are just the first phase of a wide-ranging investigation of multiple Republican-affiliated groups that spent at least $2.5 million in corporate money in 2002. So more charges could be on the way. "Additional allegations continue to arise from the mass of information gathered by the grand juries that have investigated various aspects of this matter," said Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle. "What has emerged is the outline of an effort to use corporate contributions to control representative democracy in Texas."