Bug Man Sticks More Tightly to Fly Strip

The New York Times has released information on some more documents coming out of Texas which may confirm what many of us have long suspected. That Bastion of Ethics and Christian Righteousness, Tom DeLay, may have had his hands a lot further into the prohibited fund raising cookie jar than the initial reports indicated.

Documents subpoenaed from an indicted fund-raiser for Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, suggest that Mr. DeLay was more actively involved than previously known in gathering corporate donations for a political committee that is the focus of a grand-jury investigation in Texas, his home state.

The documents, which were entered into evidence last week in a related civil trial in Austin, the state capital, suggest that Mr. DeLay personally forwarded at least one large corporate check to the committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, and that he was in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's largest companies on the committee's behalf.

In an August 2002 document subpoenaed from the files of the indicted fund-raiser, Warren M. RoBold, Mr. RoBold asked for a list of 10 major donors to the committee, saying that "I would then decide from response who Tom DeLay" and others should call to help the committee in seeking a "large contribution."

So sorry, Bug Man, but according to the ancient, sacred rules of law in the Lone Star State, that's a Bozo No-No.

Under Texas law, corporations are barred from donating money to state political candidates. The Texas committee acknowledged receiving large corporate donations during the 2002 campaign but always insisted that the money was used for administrative costs, which is legal.

Does anybody remember when there used to be a House Ethics Committee? Ah, how I long for the good old days. There are still some people sitting on a committee that bears the same historical name, but after recent GOP led changes to their rules, all of their work this year seems to have revolved around publishing new cookie recipes.