New subpoenas link DeLay, Blunt

By The New York Times

Texas prosecutors in the criminal case against Representative Tom DeLay issued a subpoena on Wednesday for records of transactions between his national political action committee and a political committee run by his successor as House majority leader, Roy Blunt of Missouri.

The subpoena, issued in Austin, the Texas capital, asked for all records from Mr. DeLay's committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, about its contributions from 2000 to 2002 to Mr. Blunt's committee, Rely on Your Own Beliefs Fund, and to the state Republican Party in Missouri, where Mr. Blunt's son is governor.

The subpoena offered no explanation of why prosecutors wanted the records, although news reports have recently questioned why thousands of dollars raised by Mr. DeLay and his committee to entertain delegates at the 2000 Republican convention were shifted to Mr. Blunt's committee.

Mr. Blunt's committee made a $10,000 contribution at about the same time to a charity controlled by Mr. DeLay.

"There's nothing that any of these committees did that was improper," said Stefan Passantino, a lawyer for Mr. Blunt.

A spokesman for Mr. DeLay, who is charged with conspiring to undermine a Texas ban on corporate donations to political candidates, had no immediate comment on the subpoena.