Thursday, August 11, 2005

FEC Finds Misreporting by DeLay Committee

It seems today is nothing but scandals. Here's one from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (Aug. 11) - A federal audit of a political fundraising committee founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay found that it failed to report more than $300,000 in debts owed to vendors and incorrectly paid for some committee activities with money from another DeLay-connected political committee.

The Federal Election Commission's report didn't indicate whether it would pursue enforcement action against Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee.

ARMPAC's executive director, Jim Ellis, was indicted in Texas in connection with a separate DeLay-connected committee, Texans for a Republican Majority. In that case, Ellis is charged with money laundering and accepting illegal political contributions for state legislative campaigns. DeLay has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.


Tom DeLay has a ethics problem. He seems to end up hiring crooks to control his political action committees. Ellis has been indicted for money laundering while directing DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority, and now DeLay's ARMPAC's committee is being investigated for its failure to correctly report its debts--with Ellis being in charge of ARMPAC. Of course, DeLay is close friends with Jack Abramoff, who has also been indicted in the SunCruz wire fraud, and is also involved in federal investigations of his providing monetary favors for political connections with DeLay. What other crooked relationships is DeLay involved with?

Power corrupts.

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