DeLay's PAC closes shop after decade-long run

[babylonsister]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/05/delays_pac_closes_shop.html

By Paul Kane

The political action committee for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was quietly closed last week after a decade-long run as one of the most influential - and infamous - PACs run by members of Congress.

With a final $1,400 payment to the Federal Election Commission last month settling an audit dispute, Americans for a Republican Majority then filed its termination papers with the commission April 24.

Thus ends one more chapter in the storied political rise and fall of DeLay.

Unlike congressional re-election committees - used solely for campaign efforts back in members' districts - so-called leadership PACs are designed almost purely for lawmakers to gain influence inside the Capitol. These PACs take in cash in larger chunks ($5,000 per year) and are used to make contributions (up to $10,000 per election cycle) to other lawmakers.

And, in an 11-year run among GOP leadership ranks, no one in Congress used political money to maximize his own influence more than DeLay. From 2001 through 2005, as DeLay's power reached its apex, his PAC dished out more than $2.6 million in donations to other House and Senate candidates as well as national political party committees.

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[aquart]

1. Uh huh. Why isn't DeLay in jail?

[NoPasaran]

2. He hasn't had his trial yet.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Shame he can't await his trial from a cell.

[NoPasaran]

4. Uh, right

I guess waiting until people are actually convicted before locking them in prison is pre-9/11 thinking.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. I said it was a shame, not that we should change our legal process.

The fact is that not everyone makes bail and some suspects do get stuck in prison waiting for trial (particularly those considered a flight risk).

In any case, I'm not asking for the removal of due process, it's just a shame that fucker is still free.

[Rev. Mother Ramallo]

6. I thought he was in jail...

Good Lord, how long does a trial take?????

[Doctor_J]

7. I don't understand this -

many gangsters continue to run their organizations from prison. What a loser.