Another One-half Million For DeLay

Former Rep. Tom Delay's congressional committee reported paying $454,000 in legal expenses during the last three months of 2006, according to its most recent report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign fund raising and spending, reported that the committee's legal fees included $210,000 to the Richmond, Va., law firm of McGuire Woods. Richard Cullen, a partner in the McGuire Woods firm, represents Delay in criminal matters.

Delay, the embattled former majority leader from the Houston area, resigned from the House last year. He is under indictment in Texas on campaign-money-laundering charges. He has denied those allegations.

Additionally, he is a central figure in the ongoing Justice Department investigation into influence peddling on Capitol Hill. That inquiry has focused on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's efforts to influence members of Congress.

By Edward T. Pound