Burnt Orange Report

Tom DeLay and Foreign Money

By Byron LaMasters

Instead of writing about it, just read this Washington Post article and this Kos Diary (recommend it, too!).

More at: Daily DeLay and Kuff. The Richard Morrison campaign has a statement which I've put in the extended entry.

The Washington Post has the news. Tom DeLay went on a $100,000 trip to Korea paid for by a registered foreign agent.

If you've had enough of Tom DeLay, send a message and support a grassroots revolution that's working to end the reign of DeLay, Inc. Contribute to Richard Morrison here:

Here's more from the Washington Post story:

A delegation of Republican House members including Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea in 2001 from a
registered foreign agent despite House rules that bar the acceptance of travel expenses from foreign agents, according to government documents and travel reports filed by the House members.

Justice Department documents show that the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a business-financed entity created with help from a lobbying firm headed by DeLay's former chief of staff, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on Aug. 22, 2001. DeLay; his wife, Christine; and two other Republican lawmakers departed on a trip financed by the group on Aug. 25 of that year.

The exchange group in late 2003 hosted three Democratic House members and another Republican on a similar trip. It spent at least 106,921 to finance the three-day trip in 2001 from Washington to Seoul by the Republicans, which DeLay (Tex.) and accompanying staff assistants described at the time as having an "educational" purpose.

The DeLay machine is very brittle -- it's held together with chains of money under high tension. Lobbyists give him money because he's powerful. He invests a certain percentage of that in campaign contributions to other GOPers. The influence he buys with that money is then mercilessly exploited to squeeze more money from the lobby.

But now corporations are getting into serious legal trouble for their
involvement with DeLay, Inc. But DeLay is not resting. His criminal
defense fund has already raised $1million.

But his campaign fund is down to only $68,000. He's already hired a top dirty tricks consultant for the 2006 race. We gotta step up our game to win. Every dollar invested in Morrison in 2004 caused DeLay to spend $4.62. That's a 400% return on investment. Contribute here to help Richard Morrison break up DeLay, Inc.