Bad news days are nothing new for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) -- he was admonished three times by the House last year, many of his lobbyist-funded trips have been scrutinized, he faces possible indictment in Texas for illegal political activities, etc. Seldom, however, are there two negative stories for the Exterminator on the same day. In the first, The New York Times' Phillip Shenon raises some questions about DeLay's campaign expenditures.

The wife and daughter of Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay's political action and campaign committees, according to a detailed review of disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission and separate fund-raising records in Mr. DeLay's home state, Texas.

[...]

Mr. DeLay, whose position as majority leader makes him the second-most-powerful House member, has offered a vigorous public defense in recent weeks to a flurry of ethics accusations from Democratic lawmakers and campaign watchdog groups, including charges that he violated House rules on travel. The executive director of Americans for a Republican Majority and a major fund-raiser for the committee were indicted in Texas last year on charges of illegal fund-raising, and prosecutors there have refused to rule out the possibility of charges against Mr. DeLay in the continuing inquiry.

In recent weeks, public interest groups have called on the House ethics committee and the Justice Department to review lavish, privately financed overseas trips for Mr. DeLay and his aides, including a 1997 trip to Russia that was underwritten by a conservative education group closely linked to a powerful Republican lobbyist who often boasted of his influence with the majority leader.

R. Jeffrey Smith and James V. Grimaldi take a little closer look at recent allegations over the aforementioned 1997 trip on the front page of tomorrow's issue of The Washington Post:

A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) 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.

It is unclear precisely how the money was transferred from the Bahamian-registered company to the nonprofit.

The expense-paid trip by DeLay and four 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.

With all of these outside distractions clouding his mind, it's no wonder that Tom DeLay has been unable to cajole and coerce his comrades in the GOP to support privatization of Social Security.

The more DeLay enters the political limelight, the better chance the Democrats have of winning back seats in the House and Senate in 2006. Any Dem who wants DeLay out now is completely off-base; if the Democratic Party has any chance at winning back Congress in 2006, Tom DeLay just might be their ticket to victory.