Tom Delay & Ethics

Posted on Fri, Mar. 11, 2005
DeLay faces questions over fund-raising travel
JAMES KUHNHENN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has received ethics reprimands in the past, is drawing fresh fire on Capitol Hill this week over his role in a Texas political-financing operation and reports of possible travel irregularities in violation of House of Representatives rules.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday renewed her call for the House ethics committee to determine whether DeLay's activities require further investigation. Some House Republicans worried that the revival of an ethics flap surrounding DeLay could distract him from pushing President Bush's second-term agenda.
DeLay was treated Thursday at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda for heart arrhythmia and wasn't available to comment. After tests, he was sent home to rest.
While DeLay hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, questions are swirling over what he knew about three events involving fund-raising and travel:
• Two DeLay associates are under indictment in Texas as part of a criminal investigation into a political action committee that DeLay helped create in 2001. The prosecutor, a Democrat, has said the committee was designed to direct corporate donations to Republican state candidates, a violation of Texas law.
• In 2000, DeLay played golf in Scotland on a trip arranged by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who's now under investigation by a federal grand jury and a Senate panel for selling access to members of Congress. National Journal, a magazine that covers Washington, reported last week that Abramoff paid for DeLay's hotel, which would violate House rules.
• In 2001, DeLay took an expense-paid trip to South Korea under the auspices of the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, an organization registered as a foreign agent. House rules prohibit members from accepting travel or other gratuities from registered foreign agents.

source: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/11105519.htm