Judge rules against DeLay PAC
over reporting of corporate cash

From the Houston Chronicle:

A state district judge ruled today that a political committee founded by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was legally required to report more than $500,000 in corporate cash to state authorities because the money was raised to influence Texas elections.

"I find that the contributions were used in connection with a campaign for elective office. Therefore, they were political contributions or campaign contributions within the meaning of ... the Election Code," visiting District Judge Joe Hart said in his ruling.

While Hart did not rule specifically on whether Texans for a Republican Majority raised and spent the money legally, he said TRMPAC violated state law by not reporting the money to the Texas Ethics Commission.

And

"The ruling nowhere mentions Tom DeLay, and that confirms what we've been saying all along - that the dispute really has little if anything to do with Tom DeLay,'' Burchfield said.

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However, an analyst on NPR's All Things Considered Thursday stated that this has everything to do with Tom DeLay: he speculates that Austin District Attorney Ronnie Earle may very well use this ruling as evidence in order to add DeLay as a defendant to the TRMPAC criminal case Earle is prosecuting. If that happens, DeLay loses his position as House Majority Leader because no one under indictment can serve in that position according to the off-again-on-again House ethics rules. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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