Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle wasted no time trying to draw connections Tuesday between U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Almost immediately after Abramoff pled guilty Tuesday to federal charges of tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy to bribe public officials, Earle issued subpoenas for any documents or letters sent between DeLay, his associates, Abramoff’s former law firms and some former clients.
And on Wednesday, DeLay joined other Washington politicians – including President George W. Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert – in announcing he would not keep campaign contributions from Abramoff or his associates.
DeLay, R-Sugar Land, was charged in Travis County in September on charges of conspiracy and money laundering. His attorneys have maintained Earle is pursuing the case to hurt DeLay politically. The attorneys told reporters on Tuesday that there is no connection between the Texas charges and the Abramoff case.
Abramoff agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to the federal charges in exchange for testimony about several senators and members of Congress, in a wide-ranging Justice Department investigation into schemes through which Abramoff is alleged to have bribed officials and cheated Indian tribe clients out of tens of millions of dollars while ostensibly working on their behalf to promote gambling and other interests.
On Wednesday, DeLay decided to give contributions his campaign had received from Abramoff to charity.
“The campaign committee does not accept donations from gambling interests and Jack Abramoff hasn’t donated to the campaign in close to three years,” DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said. “However, the campaign will redirect the $15,000 of past donations by Abramoff and his wife to local charities across the 22nd District.”
Flaherty said money from the Abramoffs was “donated in full compliance with federal law and disclosed properly and publicly, but yesterday’s admission of guilt and improper actions warranted our action to make something positive come of all this by donating the money to local charities rather than retaining it.
“We started the accounting process yesterday and we’re working to identify local charities that could use these funds to make a difference in our communities.”
Only Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio has been named in Abramoff court documents thus far. However, DeLay – who was House majority leader until forced to step down from that position in September due to the Texas indictments – has several ties to the lobbyist.
And the Washington Post reported Wednesday that DeLay himself is “under scrutiny” in the Abramoff case.
“Tom DeLay is not concerned that Mr. Abramoff is cooperating,” Richard Cullen, a DeLay attorney, told the Post. “He urges everyone involved to cooperate in the investigation and to tell the truth.”
Sources told the newspaper that “investigating DeLay could take up to a year and require the cooperation of other witnesses before issues surrounding the Texas Republican are resolved.”
DeLay has acknowledged being close friends with Abramoff and, according to news reports, traveled overseas three times with Abramoff over the past eight years, including trips to Scotland, Russia and the Mariana Islands.
Abramoff’s former partner, Michael Scanlon, who has already been charged in the case, is a former DeLay press aide.
Former top DeLay aide Tony Rudy reportedly worked with Abramoff in 2000 to kill an Internet gambling bill, to the benefit of an Abramoff client. According to court documents, Abramoff is alleged to have arranged for $50,000 in payments to an unnamed congressional staffer in return for the staffer’s help in killing just such a bill.
And, according to the Dallas Morning News, DeLay and Abramoff worked closely together on what was known as the K Street Project, “an effort to pressure Washington’s premier lobbying firms to shun Democrats and stock their staffs with GOP loyalists.”
Meanwhile, in Austin, Earle issued subpoenas on Tuesday to:
→ Jonathan Blank, managing partner of law firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP;
→ Michael E. Williams, director of government affairs for law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP;
→ Rhonda Welch Scalco, chairwoman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians of California, and;
→ Don Kilgore, general counsel for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which had been a client of Abramoff’s lobbying firm.
The subpoenas sought records and documents relating to Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, a defunct political action committee DeLay formed. Specifically, they sought records involving a $1,000 contribution to TRMPAC by the Mississippi Choctaws in November 2001; a $5,000 contribution by the Mission Indians in October 2002; and a $25,000 contribution by Preston Gates Ellis to TRMPAC in October 2002.
The subpoenas also sought correspondence to or from former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed, and former White House procurement chief David Safavian.
