Martin Frost: Public deserves truth on DeLay's deeds

Martin Frost explains Delays troubles...

Here’s how it worked: This committee (Texans for a Republican Majority} solicited $155,000 in corporate contributions from companies such as Sears Roebuck and Bacardi, and sent that money, along with another $35,000 (for a total of $190,000), to a subcommittee established by the Republican National Committee to help local and state candidates. Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) also sent along a list of seven state candidates in Texas who were to receive this $190,000.

The Republican National Committee then sent checks totaling the exact $190,000 amount to these seven candidates out of one of its non-corporate accounts.

The allegation is that DeLay and two of his employees “washed” this $190,000 in corporate money through the Republican National Committee, having the RNC make contributions that would have been illegal had they been made directly by TRMPAC.

The issue that will need to be decided by a judge and jury in Texas is whether or not DeLay and his employees can do something indirectly that they are prohibited from doing directly.

DeLay has made a career out of living on the edge, pushing the envelope between ethical and unethical conduct — and now between legal and illegal conduct. He has been admonished three times by the House Ethics Committee for various actions deemed to be of questionable ethical behavior.