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Scandal touches DeLay
Published June 14, 2003
Officials of a Kansas energy company gave more than $56,000 to U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and his allies in an effort to “get a seat at the table” as Congress considered an energy bill last year.
DeLay’s office denies doing anything improper or illegal. Critics are calling for an investigation and say memos the company posted on its Web site show how influential donors are in shaping legislation.
Westar Energy gave $56,500 to Republican candidates and political action committees in 2002 as it was lobbying to be exempted from regulation under the Investment Company Act.
DeLay, R-Sugar Land, received a $2,400 campaign donation. Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee with ties to DeLay, received $25,000.
Internal memos posted on Westar’s Web site detail the donation plan.
“Right now we have $11,500 in immediate needs for a group of candidates associated with Tom DeLay, Billy Tauzin, Joe Barton and Sen. Richard Shelby,” Doug Lawerence, Westar’s vice president of public affairs, writes in the May 20, 2002, memo. “DeLay is the House majority leader. His agreement is necessary before the House conferees can push the language we have in place in the House bill.”
DeLay’s office said he gave no favors to donors.
“When people contribute to DeLay or causes he supports, they are supporting DeLay’s agenda, we are not supporting theirs,” the statement reads. “There was no arrangement to push the company’s request through Congress in exchange for donations.”
Tyson Slocum, research director for Public Citizen’s critical mass energy program, said the memos were the clearest evidence to surface of the role money played in government.
“Tom DeLay got over $27,000, and in return he’s on record as voting to give the company that gave him that money a special favor,” Slocum said. “It’s hard to dispute the facts in this one.”
Congressman Joe Barton, R-Ennis, received $2,000 for his campaign and another $2,000 for the Texas Freedom Fund, a PAC to which he’s tied. Barton, who did not return calls seeking comment, chaired the conference committee.
It was Barton who inserted the language during a conference committee to work out differences between HR 4 and S. 517, according to an Associated Press report. Barton also cast proxy votes in favor of the exemption for DeLay and Tauzin, R-La..
The provision would have exempted Westar from being regulated as an investment company, according to reports from the Washington Post, New Orleans Times-Picayune and the AP.
According to a statement from Public Citizen, the provision would have allowed Westar to spin off a financially troubled investment division, while passing the debts on to utility customers.
Democrats lost a party-line vote trying to defeat the provision in conference committee.
“Westar’s electricity rate payers, however, would be left holding the bag on millions of dollars of debt,” wrote Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mass., in a letter to Tauzin and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. Markey was a member of the conference committee. Tauzin was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Bingaman was chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
When news surfaced last fall that a federal grand jury was investigating Westar, the provision was deleted from the bill.
According to the memo, DeLay, Barton, Tauzin and Shelby were seeking the money to help allies in close races.
“They have made this request in lieu of contributions made to their own campaigns,” Lawerence writes.
DeLay’s office said any attempts Westar might have made to solicit special treatment would have been in vain.
“It’s presumptuous for someone to think that by contributing to candidates who have challenging elections there’s something they’ll get in return other than helping a candidate win,” the statement reads. “We have no control over any fantasies Westar might have about what they might get for a campaign contribution. The Westar document descriptions are simply incorrect and inappropriate.”
The memo specifically mentions Tom Young, Shelby’s former chief of staff who was running for an Alabama congressional seat, a race he eventually lost in a runoff.
Shelby spokeswoman Andrea Lofey said the senator had nothing to do with the provision Westar sought.
“Sen. Shelby’s staff was contacted by a lobbyist representing Westar asking for his support and that support was flat out denied,” Lofey said. “Sen. Shelby did not support Westar’s request, nor has he made any request for campaign donations for Westar on behalf of Tom Young.”
Barton’s and Tauzin’s offices did not return phone calls seeking comment.
An official of the Federal Elections Commission said he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. Officials at the Justice Department did not return calls seeking comment.
Michael Wright covers politics for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 265-7411, Ext. 280.
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