DeLay Asked Lobbyist to Raise Money Through Charity

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."

November 4, 2005
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.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/04/politics/04lobby.html?ex=1288760400&en=c4846c80925988dd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss