Salon has a thorough look at the life and times of Rep. Tom DeLay and his moneymaking machine. It’s pretty comprehensive, and more than a little appalling, so I commend you to check it out.
One side note that I’ll comment on:
DeLay is also loyal — not just to politicians who vote with him, but to his staffers, many of whom work for him for a few years and then move into lucrative lobbying jobs. When the Hill listed the city’s top lobbyists, four were former DeLay employees. No other member of the House was credited with having more than one alumnus. Three of these alums are connected with ARM and the fourth, Drew Maloney, hasn’t really left the family. Five of his clients at the Federalist Group gave at least $30,000 to DeLay’s different fundraising organizations between January 2000 and December 2002. One of them, Reliant Energy, gave $75,000 to DeLay and, according to Roll Call, its Washington office last year hosted the baby shower of DeLay’s daughter, Danielle Ferro, who has done heavy fundraising for Texans for a Republican Majority. Roy says, “It’s always useful to have people both on the political side and lobbying who still consider themselves part of the organization and looking out for DeLay’s best interest.”
The Salon article does not mention this infamous incident involving DeLay’s daughter:
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), legendary on Capitol Hill for his aggressive efforts to cultivate corporate interests, hit on a new way of rewarding his friends last weekend, flying more than 30 lobbyists to Las Vegas for a golf tournament and a round of partying.
[…]
The weekend included a late-night party Saturday in DeLay’s suite at the Rio Hotel and Casino, which featured a living room, bar and hot tub on the balcony. DeLay was not present, aides said; the event was hosted by his daughter, Dani Ferro, the campaign manager for DeLay’s reelection campaign. After the party, Ferro told associates that a lobbyist poured champagne on her while she was in the hot tub.
Ferro did not return calls seeking comment yesterday, and aides said DeLay would not comment.
Never let it be said that Republicans don’t know how to treat a lobbyist.
Finally, if you can stand an even longer, even more in depth, and even more appalling article on DeLay and his financial outreach, there’s this piece in the Texas Observer which gives an update on the grand jury investigation into the Texas Association of Business (last noted by me here).