GOP Offers DeLay Ethics Probe

Republicans Vow They'll Look Into Charges Against Majority Leader

(CBS/AP) 
The skybox donation, valued at thousands of dollars, came three weeks before DeLay also accepted a trip to Europe — including golf with Abramoff at the world-famous St. Andrews course — for himself, his wife and aides that was underwritten by some of the lobbyist's clients.

Two months after the concert and trip, DeLay voted against gambling legislation opposed by some of Abramoff's Indian tribe clients.

House ethics rules require lawmakers to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest.

"I would say it deserves closer scrutiny by the ethics committee," said Kathleen Clark, a former congressional lawyer and now a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

His defenders say the House leader did nothing wrong in the skybox case. Federal law at the time didn't require DeLay's committee to disclose or reimburse for the skybox gift, they note — though the law was changed to require such disclosure a few months later.

"Portraying a lack of reimbursement as news is like saying a driver of a car did not hit his brakes while driving through a green light — there is nothing newsworthy about it, let alone improper," said Don McGahn, one of DeLay's lawyers.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert came to a different conclusion in recent days, reimbursing Abramoff for a political event two years after the fact. One of Hastert's political committees had used a restaurant partly owned by the lobbyist, and the Hastert committee decided recently to reimburse for the use.

Abramoff's relationships with DeLay and other lawmakers are under scrutiny as a federal grand jury investigates the lobbyist's work on behalf of Indian tribes and as new information surfaces about his dealings with members of Congress.

DeLay has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the ethics charges against him and on Tuesday pinned the controversy on a "left-wing syndicate" that's seeking to bring him down.

"We haven’t done anything wrong, I have broken no laws, I have broken no House rules, even under the serious scrutiny they've put on us," DeLay told Fox Radio News.

"I'm suggesting there's a left-wing syndicate. That's for sure, we've documented it," he said.

"These people are all hooked up. The same people that went after George W. Bush have just changed their focus onto me. They are running ads, they are raising money. This is pretty serious stuff," DeLay said.