This time his troubles might not be relegated to the House ethics panel. R.G. Ratcliffe has the story on page one of today's Houston Chronicle.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's federal leadership political fund apparently coordinated with a Texas committee to deliver $23,000 in contributions to Texas House candidates, according to documents filed in a civil lawsuit.

The documents draw DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority deeper into the ongoing controversy over whether Texans for a Republican Majority illegally used corporate money to help finance the GOP takeover of the Texas House in 2002. Republicans contend the money was spent legally.

DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and his aides have maintained that TRMPAC had nothing to do with his leadership political committee, ARMPAC, though some of his associates worked for both. But the new documents show a working relationship between the groups.

DeLay's relationship to TRMPAC was that of a loose advisory position. ARMPAC is his official leadership committee he uses to raise money for congressional candidates across the United States to help him maintain his position in the House.

The documents also raise questions about whether ARMPAC used corporate funds to raise the money delivered to the Texas candidates. Such use of corporate money for candidates has been at the core of civil lawsuits and criminal investigations into TRMPAC.

Tom DeLay's potentially illegal actions threaten to undermine the House more profoundly than anything since the bounced check scandal and the Dan Rostenkowski indictment. His actions are an affront to the American Democracy.

As the possibility of a DeLay indictment becomes more likely every time a newspaper reports on his questionable dealings, I agree with Chris Bowers that it is time to begin a national campaign pinning the Majority Leader's problems to the House Republicans as a whole. If the Democrats can make the GOP accountable for the actions of its floor leader, the results in 2006 will be extremely positive.