Blunt and DeLay connections

[StefanX]

With Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment today, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-K Street) could very well become the Majority Leader. Here's a handy guide to some background information on Blunt and his lax ethical standards.

In short, Blunt and DeLay are unethical twins, separated at birth.

http://www.firedupamerica.com/blunt_backgrounder

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http://www.firedupamerica.com/node/188

Blunt and DeLay Connections

(1) Jim Ellis, who is under indictment in the TRMPAC criminal case in Travis County, Texas, has served as the manager of both Blunt’s PAC, ROYB Fund, and DeLay’s PAC, ARMPAC. As late as December 2001, Roll Call still cited Ellis as a consultant to both ARMPAC and ROYB.

(2) Four corporations (Cracker Barrel, Bacardi USA, Sears, and Williams Companies) who have been indicted and are awaiting trial in the same Texas scandal, contributed more than $53,000 to Blunt.

(3) Blunt has contributed $5,000 to the Tom Delay Legal Defense Fund and $10,000 to the Delay Foundation.

(4) In 1999 and 2000, when Ellis ran both DeLay's ARMPAC and Blunt's ROYB Fund, ARMPAC made contributions to Blunt's committee totaling $150,000. In return, Blunt made a series of payments to the Alexander Strategy Group (ASG), a firm controlled by former DeLay staffers, that also happened to employ DeLay's wife at the time. Over the course of a two-year period, Blunt's payments to ASG totaled $150,000.

(5) In fact, ties were so close between the Blunt and DeLay operations, that ARMPAC, ROYB, Alexander Strategy Group--run by former DeLay staffer Ed Buckham, and the U.S. Family Network once all shared the same office space at 132 D St., SE in a DC townhouse owned by Robert Mills, a former DeLay campaign manager who ran the U.S. Family Network. They were forced to disperse when DC zoning officials noted that Mills had reported that only 15 percent of his home would be used for business purposes. (Roll Call, DeLay PAC, Consulting Firm Move Out of House, April 13, 2000)

(6) Also during Ellis' tenure with ROYB, Blunt accepted a series of contributions from clients of embattled uber-lobbyist and DeLay crony, Jack Abramoff. Blunt accepted contributions from Concorde Garment Manufacturing, a company that ran sweatshops on the Marianas Islands. In March of 2000, eight major U.S. retailers settled a class action lawsuit for $6.5 million for working conditions in Marianas Island manufacturing facilities, including those of Concorde Manufacturing. Abramoff lobbied on behalf of various Marianas Island interests. (New York Times, 8 Retailers Settle Suit, March 29, 2000) The Justice Jepartment is currently investigation Abramoff’s activities in the Northern Marianas Islands.

(7) DeLay’s political action committee (ARMPAC) has given $165,000 to Blunt since he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives – including $150,000 from ARMPAC’s convention account in 2000 to Blunt’s non-federal account (which he could spend on non-federal races), plus $15,000 to his leadership federal PAC. Blunt in turn has contributed $5,000 to the Tom DeLay Legal Defense Fund and $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation.

(8) Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff is being investigated by state and federal grand juries as well as the U.S. Senate. Representative Blunt accepted a $8,500 payment to his political action committee from Jack Abramoff.

(9) On March 8, 2005, Roll Call reported that in January 2004, Roy Blunt, through the political committee that Ellis formerly ran, contributed $10,000 to Ellis' legal defense fund.

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[starroute]

1. Blunt's ROYB also got money from the Tigua Indians

Good list. I hope it gets more distribution.

[StefanX]

2. Kick

Just a friendly reminder about how the new, improved House Majority Leader sounds just as corrupt as the old, indicted House Majority Leader.