Thursday turned out to be a difficult day for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). First, his one time ally Jack Abramoff was indicted; now, his political action committee has been hit by the FEC. The Washington Post's inimitable Jeffrey H. Birnbaum reports.

The Federal Election Commission criticized a political fund chaired by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for misstating accounts and failing to report debts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The watchdog agency issued its findings after auditing DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC (ARMPAC) for 2001 and 2002. ARMPAC is one of a growing number of "leadership" PACs, through which members of Congress provide financing and electoral assistance to other candidates for office.

The agency did not take disciplinary action against DeLay or ARMPAC. But its report said that the commission might in the future penalize the fund, an act that usually involves a fine.

[...]

The audit said that ARMPAC made "material" misstatements about its donations, cash on hand and disbursements. The discrepancies, which have been corrected, totaled more than $100,000.

Auditors also said they had trouble examining the accounts because about 28 percent of contributor checks and a third of expense paperwork such as invoices were missing.

Shocking. Just shocking.