Sunday, March 13, 2005

Who is paying for Tom DeLay's Defense?

Who is contributing to Tom DeLay’s Legal Defense Fund?

According to the New York Times -

From Congress:

Representative Roy Blunt (R, MO) House Republican whip, $20,000

Representative Henry Bonilla (R, TX) $15,000

Former Representative Billy Tauzin (R, LA) $15,000. Mr. Tauzin is now Chief Lobbiest for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Representative Jeb Hensarling (R, TX) $5,000

Representative Lamar Smith (R, TX) $10,000 – placed on the House Ethics Committee when the previous members were excessively conscientious about Tom DeLay’s earlier ethical violations.

Representative Tom Cole (R, OK) $5,000, also placed on the House ethics committee this year.

The list of corporate donors includes:

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines;

Bell South;

Coors Brewing;

Exxon Mobil,

Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.

Bacardi U.S.A., $3,000 – Bacardi contributed to TRMPAC and has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges in Texas which Tom DeLay’s Legal Defense Fund is defending him against.

Reliant Energy of Houston and its subsidiaries have donated $20,000. Bacardi also donated to TRMPAC, which corporate donation appears to have been illegally used for election purposes in electing a Republican House in Texas.

From the NY Times article :”The documents, subpoenaed from the files of an indicted former fund-raiser for Mr. Delay as a result of a civil lawsuit against the political action committee, suggested that Mr. DeLay or someone in his Washington office had accepted a $25,000 check from Reliant in 2002 that was forwarded to Texans for a Republican Majority, and that he had a direct role in soliciting contributions from other corporations on the committee's behalf.”

These are all companies who should not be dealt with. Enron and WorldCom would have been on this list if they still existed. They don't exist in part because of the failure of the Republicans to govern business properly. The politicians are all men with highly questionable ethics.

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