WorkingForChange-The death of democracy
Molly Ivins
You may be wondering why House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is raising money for a legal defense fund and telling his fellow Republicans in Washington to be prepared to name his replacement, in the event he is indicted. DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate — the sky’s the limit — you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
Texans for a Republican Majority is a political action committee (TRMPAC, pronounced “Trimpac.”) created in part by Tom Delay. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle began an investigation in December 2002 into public boasting by the Texas Association of Business (TAB) that it had collected and contributed money from corporations to elect candidates to the Texas legislature.
That investigation led to TRMPAC, which allegedly also raised and used corporate money for political purposes. TAB insists it does not have to reveal the names of its corporate donors (!), Craddick is now scrambling away from TRMPAC, and the whole mess is under investigation by a grand jury.