DeLay Asked Lobbyist to Raise Money Through Charity
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DeLay Asked Lobbyist to Raise Money Through Charity
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - Representative Tom DeLay asked the lobbyist Jack
Abramoff to raise money for him through a private charity controlled by
Mr. Abramoff, an unusual request that led the lobbyist to try to gather
at least $150,000 from his Indian tribe clients and their gambling
operations, according to newly disclosed e-mail from the lobbyist's
files.
The electronic messages from 2002, which refer to "Tom" and "Tom's
requests," appear to be the clearest evidence to date of an effort by
Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, to pressure Mr. Abramoff and his
lobbying partners to raise money for him. The e-mail messages do not
specify why Mr. DeLay wanted the money, how it was to be used or why he
would want money raised through the auspices of a private charity.
"Did you get the message from the guys that Tom wants us to raise some
bucks from Capital Athletic Foundation?" Mr. Abramoff asked a colleague
in a message on June 6, 2002, referring to the charity. "I have six
clients in for $25K. I recommend we hit everyone who cares about Tom's
requests. I have another few to hit still."
The e-mail was addressed to Tony Rudy, who had been Mr. DeLay's chief
of staff in the House before joining Mr. Abramoff's lobbying firm. Mr.
Abramoff said it would be good "if we can do $200K" for Mr. DeLay.
The e-mail traffic was released this week by the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee, which has conducted a yearlong investigation into whether
Mr. Abramoff and a business partner, Michael Scanlon, Mr. DeLay's
former House press secretary, defrauded Indian tribe clients and their
gambling operations out of tens of millions of dollars. There was no
immediate comment on the e-mail from spokesmen for Mr. Abramoff or Mr.
DeLay, who has stepped down as House majority leader because of an
unrelated criminal indictment in his home state.
The Justice Department signaled last month that it was investigating
the propriety of Mr. DeLay's ties to Mr. Abramoff, including trips that
the lobbyist organized for Mr. DeLay and his wife. Mr. Abramoff is
under indictment in a separate federal fraud investigation in Florida.
The case against Mr. DeLay in Texas, which centers on charges that he
violated the state's century-old ban on use of corporate money in its
political races, has been thrown into confusion this week because of
accusations - first by Mr. DeLay's defense lawyers, then by prosecutors
- that judges assigned to the case cannot be impartial because of their
political ties, a concern in Texas because judges there are elected.
On Tuesday, Mr. DeLay's lawyers managed to have the trial judge, Bob
Perkins, a Democrat, removed because he had made contributions to the
Democratic Party and its candidates. On Thursday, the Republican
administrative judge who was supposed to pick Judge Perkins's
replacement, B. B. Schraub, removed himself from the case because of
contributions he had made to Republican candidates.
Judge Schraub immediately forwarded the case to the state's chief
justice, Wallace B. Jefferson, another Republican. But Justice
Jefferson's involvement was also challenged by the prosecutors. They
suggested in a separate court filing that the chief justice could not
be impartial because of his use of a political consultant and campaign
treasurer who had also worked for Texans for a Republican Majority, Mr.
DeLay's state political action committee, and because he had received
thousands of dollars in donations from the Republican Party.
Late Thursday, Justice Jefferson announced that he had named a new
trial judge, Pat Priest, a retired Democratic judge from San Antonio.
It was not immediately clear if Judge Priest would be acceptable to
lawyers on both sides.
The focus on Mr. DeLay back in Washington has been over his ties to Mr.
Abramoff, once one of the city's most powerful lobbyists and Republican
fund-raisers, and Mr. Scanlon, who was among Mr. DeLay's closest aides
on his House staff.
The hearings by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee have shown that
through a network of outside companies and charities, Mr. Abramoff and
Mr. Scanlon funneled tens of millions of dollars in lobbying fees from
Indian tribes into activities that often had little connection to the
interests of the tribes and their lucrative gambling operations.
Mr. Abramoff's private charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation, has
come under scrutiny by Senate investigators since the foundation was
used to underwrite overseas travel by members of Congress and senior
government officials, as well as a Jewish day school that Mr. Abramoff
had established and paramilitary training for kibbutz residents in
Israel. Mr. Abramoff's e-mail messages describe the training program as
a "sniper school."
In a chain of often cryptic e-mail messages that began on June 6, 2002,
Mr. Abramoff communicated with members of his lobbying firm and his
clients about Mr. DeLay's request that large amounts of money be raised
through the foundation.
"Hi Tony," Mr. Abramoff wrote to Mr. Rudy, asking that he help in the
fund-raising effort and describing the Capital Athletic Foundation as
"a tax deductible foundation" that does "NO lobbying at all."
Later that day, Mr. Abramoff wrote to Mr. Rudy again, asking him to
pass on the request for a donation to one of the firm's major Indian
tribe clients, the Saginaw Chippewas of Michigan. He wrote that the
request would "look better coming from you as a former DeLay COS -
we're gonna make a bundle here."
On June 20, Mr. Rudy wrote to Todd Boulanger, a different colleague at
the lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig, asking about the status of a
$25,000 contribution to the Capital Athletic Foundation.
"Jack wants this," Mr. Rudy wrote, referring to Mr. Abramoff. "It is
something our friends are raising money for." The e-mail did not
identify the friends.
Mr. Boulanger replied the same day: "I'm sensing shadiness. I'll stop
asking. I'll break it up over the various request to a total of $25K."
Mr. Rudy replied: "Your senses are good. If you have to say Leadership
is asking, please do. I already have." Mr. Rudy did not return phone
calls Thursday, so it was not possible to determine if "Leadership"
referred to Mr. DeLay.
In e-mail on July 8, 2002, to the lobbyist for a Texas Indian tribe,
Mr. Abramoff asked about the status of the tribe's contribution to the
foundation for Mr. DeLay: "I am getting daily calls on this. When they
return tomorrow, I have no doubt, Tom himself is going to call." Mr.
Abramoff appeared to be referring to Mr. DeLay's return to Washington
after the Fourth of July holiday.