House Leader Tom DeLay Indicted

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and two political associates with conspiracy in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate campaign contributions to state candidates.

DeLay, 58, announced after the indictment that he was temporarily relinquishing his leadership post, in accordance with House Republican rules.

"I have notified the Speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County District Attorney today," DeLay said in a statement.
DeLay retains his seat representing Texas' 22nd congressional district.

DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

Criminal conspiracy is a state felony punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

The White House said President Bush regards DeLay as a good ally and leader, CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

"I think the president's view is that we need to let the legal process work," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

DeLay, arguably the most powerful Republican in Congress, has denied any wrongdoing in the case and accused the Democratic prosecutor of pursuing a political agenda.

"These charges have no basis in the facts or the law. This is just another example of [district attorney] Ronnie Earle misusing his office for partisan vendettas," said DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden.

GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California temporarily step into DeLay's leadership post.

Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation.

The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to "knowingly make a political contribution" in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account.

The PAC then wrote a $190,000 check to an arm of the Republican National Committee and provided the committee a document with the names of Texas State House candidates and the amounts they were supposed to received in donations.

The indictment included a copy of the check.

"The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code," says the four-page indictment. "The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election."

The indictment against the second-ranking, and most assertive Republican leader came on the final day of the grand jury's term. It followed earlier indictments of a state political action committee founded by DeLay and three of his political associates.
"The problem for DeLay and the Republican leadership, apart from the obvious one, is that these sorts of investigations, these sorts of criminal cases, tend to take on lives of their own. They tend to have unintended consequences once people start testifying under oath and start getting pressure to make deals with prosecutors," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

"The story, in other words, doesn't end with this indictment."

The grand jury action is expected to have immediate consequences in the House, where DeLay is largely responsible for winning passage of the Republican legislative program.

DeLay has served in Congress for 21 years, the last three as House Republican leader, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss. He is famous for enforcing party discipline, leading to his nickname "the Hammer".

Democrats have kept up a crescendo of criticism of DeLay's ethics, citing three times last year that the House ethics committee admonished DeLay for his conduct.

"The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

As a sign of loyalty to DeLay after the grand jury returned indictments against three of his associates, House Republicans last November repealed a rule requiring any of their leaders to step aside if indicted. The rule was reinstituted in January after lawmakers returned to Washington from the holidays fearing the repeal might create a backlash from voters.

DeLay is the center of an ethics swirl in Washington. The 11-term congressman was admonished last year by the House ethics committee on three separate issues and is the center of a political storm this year over lobbyists paying his and other lawmakers' tabs for expensive travel abroad.

Wednesday's indictment stems from a plan DeLay helped set in motion in 2001 to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction.

A state political action committee he created, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted earlier this month on charges of accepting corporate contributions for use in state legislative races. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used to advocate the election or defeat of candidates; it is allowed only for administrative expenses.

With GOP control of the Texas legislature, DeLay then engineered a redistricting plan that enabled the GOP take six Texas seats in the U.S. House away from Democrats — including one lawmaker switching parties — in 2004 and build its majority in Congress.

DeLay is the third member of Congress to be indicted since 1996. Former Rep. William Janklow, R-S.D., was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 100 days in prison after his car struck and killed a motorcyclist in 2003. Former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted on charges from a 2001 indictment accusing him of racketeering and accepting bribes.