DeLay Campaign Accepted Illegal Corporate Contributions
Another Tom DeLay PAC has accepted money from “tainted sources.”

The FEC has ordered the Tom DeLay Congressional Committee to disgorge itself of $2400 donated by Westar Energy and its employees.

Why? Westar “improperly facilitated” the contributions. The contributions came from 6 Westar employees, but Westar was so involved in ordering/facilitating those contributions that the FEC considered it to be a single $2400 corporate contribution. Federal law bars political campaigns from directly accepting corporate money. (Note that two of the contributions came from Westar’s top executives at the time, David Wittig and Douglas Lake, who were recently convicted of looting $37 million from the company.)

DeLay’s relationship with Westar isn’t new. In 2004, the House Ethics Committee rebuked DeLay for an appearance at a Westar fundraiser and for creating the appearance that a donation to his PAC would result in “special treatment or special access to the member.”

Westar Energy was also indicted in 2004 for contributing $25,000 to DeLay’s TRMPAC, which was then sent along to the Republican National Committee as part of a $190,000 check. Allegedly, a list of candidates’ names and amounts they should receive accompanied that check, leading to charges that Westar Energy donated corporate money to political candidates.

Another day, another example of illegal corporate influence on the former House Majority Leader.