Retirement Account of DeLay's Wife Traced

June 7, 2006

A registered lobbyist opened a retirement account in the late 1990s for the wife of then-House Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and contributed thousands of dollars to it while also paying her a salary to work for him from her home in Texas, according to sources, documents and DeLay's attorney, Richard Cullen.

The account represents a small portion of the income that DeLay's family received from entities at least partly controlled by lobbyist Edwin A. Buckham. But the disclosure of its origin adds to what was previously known about the benefits DeLay's family received from its association with Buckham, and it brings the total over the past seven years to about half a million dollars.

Buckham was DeLay's chief of staff before he became a lobbyist at the end of 1998, shortly before the account was opened and the flow of funds began. He has come under scrutiny from federal investigators because his lobbying firm received hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from clients of indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Buckham's financial ties to DeLay's family -- and the retirement account in particular -- have recently attracted the interest of FBI agents and others in the federal task force probing public corruption by lawmakers and lobbyists, according to a source who was questioned in the course of the government's investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/06/AR2006060601320.html

A new morality tale unfolding. Where's Bill Bennett to get this all in parable form?

With a half-drunk divorcee' on his knee.

Where did you expect him to be? ;-)

These slugs have none

this stuff is really going to rub off on the thugs. guilty by association with a creep who lies through his teeth over and over about being innocent...

Could Christine DeLay also go to the pokey for this?

From 1998 until recently, Buckham, an evangelical minister, met regularly with DeLay, occasionally attended staff meetings in his office, made scheduling recommendations or decisions for the office, and served as DeLay's chief political and spiritual adviser, even though he was not formally employed by him. At the time, Buckham's clients included a host of companies with regulatory and legislative business before Congress, and whose interests DeLay supported.

Under congressional ethics rules, lobbyists such as Buckham are barred from providing gifts or gratuities with a total value exceeding $50 to lawmakers in a single year. No similar prohibition exists for payments to a lawmaker's family members, but the pay must be a reasonable wage for real work and not be meant to influence a lawmaker's votes. Nothing in pending House and Senate lobbying reform legislation addresses the issue of such lobbyist payments to lawmaker's families....Buckham, who co-owned his lobbying firm with his wife, initially opened the retirement account for Christine DeLay at First Union bank. In 2001, he transferred it to the Charles Schwab & Co. office near his home in Frederick, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. From 1999 to 2000, DeLay listed the account as a spousal asset on his financial disclosure forms without specifying its value.

In his 2001 disclosure, DeLay said for the first time that the account was valued at between $15,000 and $50,000. Beginning in 2003, he listed it as a joint asset, though Cullen said in an interview that it remained in Christine DeLay's name and that such a listing was not required. "I believe the IRA has remained in Christine's name since the inception and that designation must have been an error," Cullen said....

An ERROR, eh??? I don't think so. He knew exactly what it was--payment made, for value received.

old lady went to prison. :)

It's so hard to imagine that stupid, cocky little man and his dear wife did anything wrong, though! They are the very embodiment of disciplined, clean living! After all, they didn't name him "Hot tub Tom" for nothing.

From 1998 until recently, Buckham, an evangelical minister, met regularly with DeLay, occasionally attended staff meetings in his office, made scheduling recommendations or decisions for the office, and served as DeLay's chief political and spiritual adviser, even though he was not formally employed by him. At the time, Buckham's clients included a host of companies with regulatory and legislative business before Congress, and whose interests DeLay supported.

and I just have to re-word this other paragraph:

"Tom DeLay has never taken an official act that was not based on his strongly held principles," Cullen said. Buckham and his attorney did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.

as it seems a bit muddled:

"Tom DeLay has never taken an official act that was not based on money from his strongly corrupt links to lobbyists and corporations," UpInArms said.

whenever he gets in trouble.

I just wish lightening would strike him everytime he does it.

from his corrupt cronies.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/politics/stories/khou060110_ac_delaywife.63267241.html

An attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on Monday said that $115,000 was a reasonable price to pay the congressman’s wife to determine favorite congressional charities and compile information on each one.

Christine DeLay was paid the money during a three-year period by the Alexander Strategy Group, a Washington lobbying firm that is now the object of a criminal probe. Alexander Strategy Group was founded with help from — and did business with — lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last week to several felony charges, including conspiracy to bribe public officials.

Payments by Abramoff, his organizations and their clients to wives of congressmen and congressional aides are now being investigated as part of that probe. While DeLay occupied the majority leader’s office, Alexander Strategy Group paid Christine DeLay $115,000.

“She was paid by Alexander to work on a project and the project enabled her to do it from Houston,” Richard Cullen, one of Tom DeLay’s attorneys, said Monday. “She would contact the … members of Congress to determine which charity in the congressman’s district was the congressman’s … that he thought was the best-run or was his favorite charity in that district.”

Where there is smoke there's fire..... I'm just saying. I love to see Doolittle's name in ink! I want a lot more of it before November!

It's from back in January..but it says stuff about him and his wife, along with how they were connected to Abramoff. No wonder why all these repuke wives walk around w/ Stepford Wives' smiles on their faces and "stand by their men". They are raking in the $$, also..and probably realize if their men get busted, so will they.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10774913/

JAMES GRIMALDI, “THE WASHINGTON POST”: We know the Justice Department is looking at flows of money to congressional spouses, including Christine DeLay, to see if they were in any way tied to specific acts or actions by lawmakers, including Tom DeLay.

O'DONNELL: DeLay's attorney confirms to MSNBC that Christine DeLay worked for a lobbying firm run by former DeLay staffers with close ties to Jack Abramoff. That firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, hired Christine DeLay and paid her $115,000 over three years to perform a special project, contacting members of Congress to find out their favorite charity. DeLay's attorney said she's done nothing wrong.

Also facing scrutiny, the wife of Republican John Doolittle. Abramoff's sham charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation, hired Doolittle's wife for fundraising.

<snip>

O'DONNELL: This week, Abramoff admitted to investigators he directed favors to a senior DeLay staffer, identified as Tony Rudy, now a lobbyist. And court papers indicate those favors came in the form of cash, $50,000, to Tony Rudy's wife, Lisa Rudy, through a charity organization, all in what Abramoff now admits was one more way for him to carry out a bribe in hopes of winning legislative favors.