More DeLay Blues

More trouble in paradise?

I found this piece on Raw Story. It is a breaking story about Rep. DeLay possibly having taken a trip to Russia in 1997 which was not paid for by a non profit, as originally reported, BUT by a firm lobbying for the Russian government. Uh Oh.

Source: http://rawstory.com/delay_russian_405.htm

DeLay Russian trip paid for by firm lobbying Russian gov't

Washington Post Page one copy leaked: EXCERPTED DOWN TO COMPLY WITH COPYRIGHT LAWS


By R. Jeffrey Smith and James V. Grimaldi
The Washington Post


WASHINGTON - A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements.

DeLay reported that the trip was sponsored by a Washington-based nonprofit organization. But interviews with those involved in planning DeLay's trip say the expenses were covered by a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000 lobbying campaign...


The expense-paid trip by DeLay and three of his staff members cost $57,238, according to records filed by his office. During his six days in Moscow, he played golf, met with Russian church leaders and talked to prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, a friend of Russian oil and gas executives associated with the lobbying effort.


DeLay also dined with the Russian executives and two Washington-based registered lobbyists for the Bahamian-registered company, sources say. One of those lobbyists was Jack Abramoff, who is now at the center of a federal influence-peddling and corruption probe related to his representation of Indian tribes.


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