DeLay fundraises - for himself

Getting worried, Tom? You should be.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay plans to raise money for his re-election race Monday, just a few blocks from the courthouse where three associates were indicted last week on charges of illegally using corporate money to help Republican candidates for the Texas House in 2002.

There will be one key difference, however, between this fund-raiser and the activities that are still being investigated by Travis County prosecutors. The invitation to this $1,000-per-person event at the private Austin Club states clearly: "No corporate checks accepted."

State and federal laws both prohibit corporate or labor-union donations from being used to help individual political candidates.

At the Monday fund-raiser, DeLay, R-Sugar Land, will be soliciting money for his race against Democratic challenger Richard Morrison. A spokesman for DeLay's campaign didn't return a telephone call Tuesday from the Houston Chronicle.

Had the Chronicle bothered to contact the Morrison campaign, they might have learned that he hopes to raise $250,000 this quarter, which is a pretty non-trivial amount even if he still lags behind DeLay's cash on hand. (You can of course help him meet that goal.) Perhaps they were too stunned by the idea of a DeLay fundraiser that wasn't open to corporations, I don't know.

UPDATE: More from The Stakeholder.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 29, 2004 to Election 2004 | TrackBack