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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

More Documents Subpoenaed in DeLay Case

Despite a relative dearth of coverage in the past few days, the case against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is still trodding along, as The New York Times reports.

Texas prosecutors in the criminal case against Representative Tom DeLay issued a subpoena on Wednesday for records of transactions between his national political action committee and a political committee run by his successor as House majority leader, Roy Blunt of Missouri.

The subpoena, issued in Austin, the Texas capital, asked for all records from Mr. DeLay's committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, about its contributions from 2000 to 2002 to Mr. Blunt's committee, Rely on Your Own Beliefs Fund, and to the state Republican Party in Missouri, where Mr. Blunt's son is governor.

The subpoena offered no explanation of why prosecutors wanted the records, although news reports have recently questioned why thousands of dollars raised by Mr. DeLay and his committee to entertain delegates at the 2000 Republican convention were shifted to Mr. Blunt's committee.

Mr. Blunt's committee made a $10,000 contribution at about the same time to a charity controlled by Mr. DeLay.
DeLay, of course, is not the only Republican whose actions are coming under scrutiny these days. Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports for The Times that there are new calls to broaden the investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

A consumer advocacy group called Wednesday for the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand its inquiry into the stock trades of Senator Bill Frist, the Republican leader, saying it had uncovered "questionable transactions lucrative to Frist family members."

The commission is already investigating the senator's decision to sell all of his stock in HCA Inc., the healthcare giant founded by his father and brother, shortly before the price hit a peak and then plummeted. Mr. Frist, whose records, along with company's, have been subpoenaed, has repeatedly said that he has done nothing wrong.

Now the advocacy group, Public Citizen, says financial disclosure documents filed by Mr. Frist reveal several additional "exceedingly well-timed transactions" made by trusts that manage investments for his three sons. All involve healthcare companies that at one point had ties to the Frist family.

"We're not sure what this means," said Frank Clemente, director of Congress Watch, Public Citizen's government watchdog arm. But, he added, "It has the smell of the HCA stock trading, and we just thought it was important to bring this to light."
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo is currently soliciting funds one or two reporters to report exclusively on Republican scandals such as those afflicting DeLay and Frist.
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