delay on his way to jail?
Inquiry Focuses on Group DeLay Created
February 16, 2004
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
AUSTIN, Tex. - A political action committee created by Tom
DeLay, the House majority leader, enjoyed tremendous
success here in 2002: all but 3 of 21 Republican candidates
the committee backed for state representative won their
races, helping the party take control of the Texas House.
Last year, the Republicans used that clout to carve Texas
into new Congressional districts under a plan that
political analysts say will bring them at least five new
seats in Congressional elections this year.
But local prosecutors and a grand jury here have been
investigating the committee, Texans for a Republican
Majority, including its use of corporate donations in the
election, lawyers close to the case said.
Investigators are also examining whether there were
violations of a law intended to curb the ability of outside
groups to influence the race for House speaker, the lawyers
said. The investigation follows a complaint filed with
prosecutors last year by Texans for Public Justice, a
campaign watchdog group.
The extent to which Texans for a Republican Majority used
corporate money in the 2002 races is laid out in a trail of
recently obtained documents. Under Texas law, political
action committees are generally prohibited from using
corporate and union donations for anything other than
administrative expenses, like rent and utilities.
But records and interviews show that fund-raisers from
Texans for a Republican Majority who were paid with
corporate money solicited donations on behalf of individual
candidates backed by the committee, which also spent
corporate donations on fund-raising events, polling and a
voter identification project.
In one case, corporate donations were used to pay a $1,200
legal bill to defend a new Republican legislator, Bill
Zedler, against accusations from his opponent that he did
not live in the district that elected him.
The documents, and interviews, also show that the committee
often coordinated its efforts with Tom Craddick, a
Republican state representative whom lawmakers elected
speaker of the House after the 2002 elections. Later, at
the urging of Mr. DeLay, Mr. Craddick helped lead the
bitter fight to carve the state into new Congressional
districts.
John Colyandro, who was the committee's executive director,
said that Texans for a Republican Majority operated
lawfully and that hundreds of other political action
committees in Texas had conducted business similarly.
"The notion that TRMPAC alone administered itself in this
way is deceitful and offensive," Mr. Colyandro said. The
payment in the Zedler case, made several days after the
election, was legal because it had "nothing to do with the
campaign," he said. Mr. Colyandro has been granted limited
immunity in return for grand jury testimony, a person close
to the case said.
But Cris Feldman, a lawyer in Austin who has sued the
treasurer of Texans for a Republican Majority on behalf of
four defeated Democratic House candidates, said Mr. DeLay
and his aides "clandestinely funneled illegal corporate
cash into the elections."
In all, the committee spent $1.5 million, including
$600,000 in corporate money, according to an analysis by
Texans for Public Justice.
Jim Ellis, Mr. DeLay's political aide, said he, Mr. DeLay
and Mr. Colyandro created the committee. Mr. DeLay served
on a five-member advisory board, which decided whom to
endorse, Mr. Colyandro said. Mr. Ellis, executive director
of Mr. DeLay's own political action committee, Americans
for a Republican Majority, was one of three officers
authorized to make decisions about expenditures and
contributions by Texans for a Republican Majority, state
records show.
Mr. DeLay's daughter was also paid by the committee to set
up events, other records show.
Before the 2002 elections, Mr. DeLay wanted lawmakers to
take up redistricting, Mr. Ellis said, adding that "there
is no question" that Mr. DeLay wanted Mr. Craddick elected
speaker. The two men served in the Texas House together in
the 1980's.
But Mr. Ellis said the committee's main goals were to
"elect Republicans and further the Republican agenda." He
added that the investigation "seems to be getting to the
point of being ridiculous" and that any mistakes by the
committee "certainly weren't intentional."
But Ronnie Earle, the Democratic district attorney in
Travis County, who is leading the inquiry, calls the
investigation "an effort to unravel a tangled web of secret
money."
In an interview, Mr. Colyandro said he believed that the
committee was legally allowed to spend corporate money to
raise other money that the committee collected and then
distributed to candidates.
But in a separate interview, Susan Lilly, the committee's
Texas fund-raiser during the 2002 elections, said she had a
different understanding: that people involved in raising
money intended for state campaigns - whether or not that
money first passes through a political action committee -
are not supposed to be paid with corporate money.
Ms. Lilly said she did not know Texans for a Republican
Majority had paid her with corporate money until after the
election, when prosecutors began looking at the committee's
activities. She said she solicited donations that went
straight to candidates, confirming a report in The Austin
American-Statesman.
Records and interviews show that other committee officials
were involved in raising money sent directly to candidates.
On Aug. 12, 2002, Ms. Lilly wrote an e-mail message to Mr.
Colyandro and Warren Robold, a fund-raiser for Mr. DeLay
who worked for the committee and, records show, was paid
with money from corporate donations. In it, she described a
visit from Ron Olson, an official with Union Pacific
railroad.
Mr. Olson, she wrote, "came down this morning and said that
through DeLay's efforts (i.e. Warren) that UP had
identified $25,000 worth of TRMPAC targets that he is
supposed to individually go and give checks to. However, he
was asked that a `DeLay' person accompany him when he gives
the checks (so that the recipient will know that it was
TRMPAC related)."
A Union Pacific spokeswoman confirmed that Mr. Robold asked
Union Pacific to make donations from its political action
committee to candidates backed by Texans for a Republican
Majority. He made the request, she said, after the railroad
declined to donate to the committee.
Union Pacific donated to 11 candidates but would have made
those donations anyway, she said. She also confirmed Mr.
Craddick handed out some Union Pacific checks to
candidates, explaining that company officials did not have
time to do it.
Mr. Robold did not return calls seeking comment. He has
been subpoenaed by prosecutors, a person close to the case
said.
Another document, dated Sept. 27, 2002, and written by Ms.
Lilly, states that committee officials sent letters to the
candidates letting them know that some donations made by
others were due to their efforts.
"All checks that have been distributed were pre-empted by
faxed notes from Beverly or Dianne letting the recipient
know the checks were coming via TRMPAC's efforts," the
document states, referring to two state representatives on
the committee's advisory board, Dianne Delisi and Beverly
Woolley. "The only exception was the Union Pacific checks
which were given to Tom and he distributed. TRMPAC has
gotten credit for all the funds distributed to date."
An attached spreadsheet lists donations made by others
directly to candidates at the request of the committee,
including $22,000 by Compass Bancshares' political action
committee. A separate document, outlining the itinerary for
a fund-raising trip to Houston by Ms. Lilly and Ms. Woolley
on Sept. 9, 2002, mentions a visit to an official at
Compass Bank. Next to that is written, "22K direct." Ms.
Woolley and bank officials did not return phone calls for
comment.
Mr. Colyandro said he did not recall the documents
outlining contributions by others at the committee's
request. But he said, "Raising any money on behalf of any
specific candidate and being compensated with corporate
money is inappropriate."
Documents show that Mr. Craddick worked closely with
officials from the committee to raise money. In turn, the
committee sent Mr. Craddick campaign checks that he then
distributed to individual candidates. For example, on Oct.
18, 2002, Mr. Colyandro wrote an e-mail message instructing
the committee's accountant to send Mr. Craddick, via
Federal Express, $152,000 in checks made out to 14
Republican House candidates, records show.
A spokesman for Mr. Craddick, Bob Richter, said Mr.
Craddick "never passed out any money to any members or
would-be members with the idea that they would vote for him
for speaker. There was never a quid pro quo: I give you
this check and you give me your support for speaker."
In another episode drawing scrutiny, the committee donated
$190,000 raised from corporations to the Republican
National Committee on Sept. 10, 2002. On Oct. 4, the
national committee wrote checks totaling the same amount to
seven Texas House candidates supported by the committee,
money that unlike that sent to the national committee could
be given directly to a campaign.
A spokesman for the national committee said there was "no
record" of discussions about the transactions with Texans
for a Republican Majority. Mr. Ellis also said he could not
recall whether he discussed the state candidates when he
delivered the check to the national committee.
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