Category Archives: Scandalized!

Forwarded to me from the Congress Daily: HE AIN’T HEAVY. How hard can it be to lobby the Hill when your name is DeLay? Just ask Randolph DeLay, brother of House Majority Leader DeLay. Last week, DeLay the lobbyist registered … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More documents from the civil lawsuit against TAB/TRM were released Wednesday, and they appear to bolster the criminal case against those groups on charges of illegally using corporate money in the 2002 campaign. This is a really long post, so … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now that he’s tanned, rested, and ready after his five-day cruise in the Bahamas with fat-cat lobbyists, Governor Perry has had to defend himself against the slings and arrows of a bunch of good-government namby-pambies. “We could have gone a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas Observer moves the ball farther forward in the TAB/TRMPAC scandal. Among other things: – The Travis County grand jury expires at the end of March, so any indictments handed down should be made public before then. – The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron has an overview of the TAB/TRM investigation so far. No new information for those who have been following this from the get-go, but a pretty good recap for those who’ve tuned in late. You know those “Previously on” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is the clearest sign I’ve seen yet that Travis County DA Ronnie Earle is getting close to something in his investigation of the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority: Governor Perry is attacking him. Gov. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Another batch of subpoenas in the ongoin TRM investigation was made public by Travis County DA Ronnie Earle yesterday, and they are all about Tom DeLay in one way or another. Nearly 50 subpoenas — some issued Tuesday and others … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Seems like just about everyone close to Tom DeLay is being investigated for some allegation of malfeasance or another. He may have to franchise himself at this rate. In the Travis County hot seat today is DeLay aide Jim Ellis. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Harvey Kronberg of the Quorum Report did some analysis of the TRM investigation for his weekly bit on Austin’s Channel 8. Not much new, but a fairly concise summary of what’s gone on and why there’s been such a flurry … Continue reading → Continue reading →

My, my. The TRMPAC scandal investigation continues to expand, as Travis County DA Ronnie Earle’s office sends out dozens of subpoenas over the next few days. Nine subpoenas were officially filed Friday. They went to House Speaker Tom Craddick and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The ongoing grand jury investigation into potential illegal use of corporate campaign donations by the Texans for a Republican Majority has reached into the Governor’s office. The Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority had much in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And the grand jury investigation of Texans for a Republican Majority moves forward,with Travis County DA Ronnie Earle subpoenaing House Speaker Tom Craddick’s documents from the 2002 Speaker’s race. Basically, the allegation is that Craddick funnelled TRMPAC money to Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the wake of yesterday’s NYT article on the yearlong investigation into the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, the Statesman reports that the evidence is mounting against the speaker. The depth of Craddick’s involvement is surprising because he has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a longish NYT article about the ongoing investigation into Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC and the allegations that it illrgally funnelled corporate money to candidates in 2002. It oddly doesn’t mention the Texas Association of Business, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Kansas utility Westar, which last year revealed that it had given over $50,000 in hard and soft money to several Congressional Republicans and Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, has announced that it may or may not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Remember this article about how Grover Norquist was going to help the GOP gain complete domination of American politics? Turns out it may contain a confession of wrongdoing in it: Diners brushed past the men unaware, as Ken Mehlman and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I can’t believe I missed this in this week’s Press. Obviously, between Tim Fleck’s departure and Rich Connelly’s Super Bowl diary, I got distracted. It’s tough work transforming our government into a Southern Baptist church, so where does U.S. Representative … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a little expenditure that you won’t find detailed in the current budget. A media firm working for President Bush’s re-election campaign has a share of the administration’s publicly funded $12.6 million advertising effort touting the new Medicare law. National … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I just love to see Tom DeLay lose, even if it’s only by proxy. In a blow to one of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) top legislative goals, a federal trademark court has dismissed rum giant Bacardi’s claim that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the Quorum Report: APPEALS COURT REJECTS TAB PETITON WITHOUT OPINION On to the Texas Supreme Court The 3rd Court of Appeals has just rejected an effort by the Texas Association of Business to avoid turning over documents in their … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You can’t win them all: The Travis County DA has cleared State Rep. Joe Nixon of wrongdoing in his mold claim. Prosecutors have concluded no laws were violated when Farmers Insurance Group paid more than $300,000 to an influential Houston … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yesterday I mentioned that a coalition of campaign-finance watchdogs had issued a press release in which they called on Deputy Attorney General James Comey to appoint an outside special counsel to investigate an illegal use of funds by John Ashcroft … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A group of public interest watchdogs have joined forces to pressure the Justice Department into appointing a special prosecutor to investigate charges that Attorney General John Ashcroft broke campaign finance laws in his unsuccessful run for reelection to the Senate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And to complete my Sunday Scandals Trifecta, state Democrats are asking that former Senator Phil Gramm be investigated for breaking a lobbying law. AUSTIN — Texas Democrats have asked Travis County prosecutors, as well as the Texas Ethics Commission, to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I suppose I should I should be all snarky about the fact that hotshot Chron columnist Rick Casey is just now writing about some of the various recent Tom DeLay scandals, including the now ten-month-old grand jury investigation into potentially … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Remember how the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, the one that helped elect a bunch of new Republicans to the state House so that Tom DeLay’s redistricting do-over could be rammed through, claimed that they’d only ever used corporate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you’re looking for good things resulting from the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform, here’s one: The Texas Association of Business is reconsidering whether to replicate a corporate-financed advertising campaign that it says helped elect … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Carlos Guerra looks at the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform and wonders if this will benefit the ongoing grand jury investigation into donations made by the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You may recall that two former executives of Westar were indicted on charges relating to their looting the company. At the time, I wondered why there was no mention of any action regarding the $25 grand payoff to various Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This Statesman article about the Tom DeLay PAC Texans for a Republican Majority (TRM) and the grand jury investigation into its dealings doesn’t really cover any new ground but does give a good overall picture of the PAC and its … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two top executives from the Kansas-based utility Westar have been charged with a variety of crimes related to looting the company’s coffers. Nowhere in the story does it mention Westar’s donations to various Tom DeLay-operated political action committees, donations that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So you’ve probably heard about the strongarm tactics used on Rep. Nick Smith (R, Michigan) to vote for the godawful Medicare bill. To recap, as Robert Novak reported: On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You may recall Tom DeLay’s new “charity”, Celebrations for Children, which was set up with the dual purpose of raising funds for children and Republicans and which has been roundly criticized as a sham and a campaign-finance law dodge. Now … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In case you’re wondering about those phony-award campaign contributions that Tom DeLay solicited from foreign nationals (see here, here, and here for the background), the answer is Yes, someone did notice that such things are illegal. Here’s the story, sent … Continue reading → Continue reading →