NEW: DeLay Campaign Accepted Illegal Corporate Contributions
NEW: DeLay Campaign Accepted Illegal Corporate Contributions
Another Tom DeLay PAC has accepted money from “tainted sources.”
The FEC has ordered the Tom DeLay Congressional Committee to disgorge itself of $2400 donated by Westar Energy and its employees.
Why? Westar “improperly facilitated” the contributions. The contributions came from 6 Westar employees, but Westar was so involved in ordering/facilitating those contributions that the FEC considered it to be a single $2400 corporate contribution. Federal law bars political campaigns from directly accepting corporate money. (Note that two of the contributions came from Westar’s top executives at the time, David Wittig and Douglas Lake, who were recently convicted of looting $37 million from the company.)
DeLay’s relationship with Westar isn’t new. In 2004, the House Ethics Committee rebuked DeLay for an appearance at a Westar fundraiser and for creating the appearance that a donation to his PAC would result in “special treatment or special access to the member.”
Westar Energy was also indicted in 2004 for contributing $25,000 to DeLay’s TRMPAC, which was then sent along to the Republican National Committee as part of a $190,000 check. Allegedly, a list of candidates’ names and amounts they should receive accompanied that check, leading to charges that Westar Energy donated corporate money to political candidates.
Another day, another example of illegal corporate influence on the former House Majority Leader.
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It’s a small amount. No biggie.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:20 pmIt must be Ronnie Earle’s fault … or Clinton’s. Isn’t everything?
October 7th, 2005 at 1:20 pmincredible how far his corruption reaches
October 7th, 2005 at 1:21 pmIt looks like the Republican culture of corruption is turning up everywhere in American culture:
- “America’s Most Wanted”
- “G.O.P.S.”
October 7th, 2005 at 1:23 pmThe Tom Delay Scandal Documents Center has a complete collection of the essential memos, articles, timelines, legal documents and other key materials in the exploding Delay corruption case, including:
- Newly released TRMPAC memos and emails showing Delay’s involvement
- Timeline of the Delay-Blunt fund swapping scheme
- Latest on the Abramoff and Safavian cases
- The Delay indictment documents
Check it out here.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:28 pmDelay’s in more corruption trouble. Yawn. Wake me when they toss out the whole lot.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:31 pmIt’s a small amount. No biggie.
Comment by Police — October 7, 2005 @ 1:20 pm
I agree! Pardon and /or release everyone ever convicted or jailed for stealing less than $2500!
October 7th, 2005 at 1:35 pmMy Fellow Americans,
This is your modern conservatism, your Republican party in a nutshell:
It’s a small amount. No biggie.
Comment by Police — October 7, 2005 @ 1:20 pm
Spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars to go after Clinton for a blow job, but if Tom DeLay steals actual money, commits an actual crime, it’s no big deal. And the Republicans have stolen millions, probably billions from this country. Get a rope. Get alot of rope.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:40 pmDelay’s in more corruption trouble. Yawn. Wake me when they toss out the whole lot.
Comment by Punchy — October 7, 2005 @ 1:31 pm
You know, Punchy. You don’t need an audience to jack off. You can do it in front of the mirror. It’s almost as exciting. And it’s pretty obvious that your increasingly infrequent and premature ejaculations here are more for your own benefit and escitement that ours.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:44 pmi think punchy meant toss out the whole lot of corrupt scumbags, not toss out the whole lot of indictments… right punchy?
October 7th, 2005 at 1:47 pm#10–????????
“escitement” ????
October 7th, 2005 at 1:49 pmHypocrisy from the wing-nuts is astounding.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:50 pmNo shame whatsoever.
i meant toss out the whole party! rove–corrupt beyond words…blunt–delay sidekick….abramoff–jail time coming…it just doesn’t end.
why would i want them to throw out the indictments??? say what?? i will pay big bucks for a photo of Delay in the orange jumpsuit. i want the mugshot.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:53 pmIsn’t it ironic that somebody who uses the screen name “Police” would blow off a real crime. I don’t know any police officers that would say “Oh, he only stole $2,500, well, let’s let him go Scott free.”
October 7th, 2005 at 1:54 pm#1
I laughed my ass off after I went to your link. Are you for real? How much of this stuff is actually working?
October 7th, 2005 at 1:55 pmHow can anyone believe what the Republicans say anymore?
October 7th, 2005 at 1:55 pmThey just keep stealing our taxpayers money and don’t care. I wonder if Enron could be tied up in this? Ken Lay has not had a trail yet. What gives!!
Public service announcement:
October 7th, 2005 at 1:57 pmFeeding trolls sustains them.
Save your thread – starve a troll.
My mistake, Punchy. It was vague and ambiguous. You could have meant the court would toss the whole lot of indictments in a summary judgement and dismissal with prejudice, but then I hit the wrong key. It was a great put down, though, weren’t it?
October 7th, 2005 at 1:58 pmI think Ken did have a “trail” … it leads to a
October 7th, 2005 at 1:59 pmnice house in Aspen. ;^)
Sorry Mary, for the spelling flame, but I liked
the escape “trail” joke.
Some will say that this is simply “chump change” and not worth the effort, but this is actually another example of the blatant disregard for the law by Delay and his friends. They are powerful and they believe the laws don’t apply to them.
October 7th, 2005 at 2:00 pmDelay is counter-charging Earle with a similar crime. Delay cannot take the high ground:
Delay has no moral compass when it comes to power and money.
I laughed my ass off after I went to your link. Are you for real? How much of this stuff is actually working?
Comment by Luck Fiberals — October 7, 2005 @
Do you really want to know? Hold off on committing suicide just a little bit longer. By 2012 it will be that or a ticket out of the country. I’d stake your life on it. In fact, I have.
October 7th, 2005 at 2:01 pmFrosted Lucky Trolls: no, #1 is not for real. Nobody with a typeface that big on his web page knows anything about launching a campaign.
Talibanana, you were robbed. That was an A+ #1 response you gave to Punchy. Too bad it hit the wrong target. It made me laugh anyway. And I love your name.
October 7th, 2005 at 2:04 pmLucky Fiberal is just one of the Pug dead enders.
October 7th, 2005 at 2:06 pm#16 – But you DID go to the site, Blanche, you did.
October 7th, 2005 at 3:08 pmThe use of threats, bribery, and blackmail to gain influence over businesses and organizations in support of a syndicate of like-minded criminals is called racketeering. It profits through extortion and money laundering.
Why do these words not apply to the Republican Party?
October 7th, 2005 at 3:12 pmKind of like torture and torture – totally two separate and distinct things. Repubs just don’t make any sense at all anymore. They used to have some catchy phrases and good one-liners. Now, sadly, its gasping for any branch in the storm. Just smears from all over and out of left field, it’s Clinton’s fault, Chappaquidick… something, help.
October 7th, 2005 at 3:12 pmP&P,
They don’t have any legitimate items, so they bring up smears which are fabricated, outlandish or even irrelevant items which don’t even relate to the current situation. It’s the only way their pea brains can cope with their own stupidity and incompetence – by reminding themselves of lies that justify it..
October 7th, 2005 at 4:24 pmTom DeLay has had his wife on his campaign payroll for years.
People donate to his political campaign. He gives the money to his wife who puts it in their joint bank account. DeLay does not even bother laundering the money because he insists that there is nothing wrong with this. Oh, and he declares that this is his wifes salary. He claims he payers her over 15 grand a month to manage his campaign.
The man is crooked to the cooooooore.
October 7th, 2005 at 6:47 pmWar Protest – Nov 10 2005 Take a day off! – Please Read
If you feel, as the majority of Americans and people throughout the world do, that the war in Iraq is wrong, and you wish you had a way to show the Bush Administration, the Government of the United States, and the world, how you feel about it, then join us in our world wide walk out on November 10th 2005.
Show the world how you feel, and just how many of us feel this way. Let’s drive the point home by taking away from them their most precious item; money.
On November 10th 2005, unless you hold a position which people rely upon in the event of an emergency (you work at a hospital, a firemen, policemen etc), don’t go to work. Try not to drive your car; don’t watch T.V.; don’t use the internet. Stay at home. Read a book. Play with your kids. Engage in a hobby.
Plan a vacation day at work. Call in sick. Use your best judgment on how to take this day off.
If we don’t get their attention this way, we’ll just do it again, until we do.
If the people speak, and speak together, they have to listen.
Please email this to as many of your friends and colleagues as you wish/can.
October 7th, 2005 at 7:40 pmTake the war protest thread. Put it in an email, send it to your friends.
Post it on Craigslist in the Community/Politics section.
Title it: War Protest – November 10, 2005 – Take a day off!
We can’t post the same thread more then once, and there are only so many ways to say it.
Post it on all your blogs!! GET THE WORD OUT!!
October 7th, 2005 at 8:05 pmDarn it Smedley, you guys picked the same day as us. We thought Nov.10th would be the day where we would show our support for the War effort. We plan on showing this support by making sure we all makes it to work that day, even if we are a little ill. No car pooling either, we’ll all be driving individual vehicles wherever possible. Oh yeah, and we will just keep doing this every day too, until you guys start to pay attention and listen to reason.
October 7th, 2005 at 9:10 pmGood Idea. And I’ll throw on the ” A twice-convicted Republican doing something illegal? Shocked, Shocked I tell you!”
October 8th, 2005 at 1:41 amTerry C Potter is still a dick.
October 8th, 2005 at 2:11 pmYou should know Spudgeboy, (aka Fudgeboy)it’s still in your mouth.
October 10th, 2005 at 10:25 am