Complaint Against DeLay; 'bribery, extortion, fraud, money laundering and the abuse of power': "The complaint makes three specific accusations, that Mr. DeLay traded contributions from the largest electric utility in Kansas, Westar Energy of Topeka, for help on measures that would save it billions of dollars; that Mr. DeLay funneled contributions from one of his political action committees to the Republican National Committee 'in an apparent money-laundering scheme'; and that Mr. DeLay improperly exhorted federal agencies, including the Justice Department, to search for Texas state legislators when they fled to Oklahoma to avoid a debate on redistricting.
Mr. DeLay said the charges were 'all based on press clippings.' Of Mr. Bell, he said, 'Evidently he is very bitter about his losing the primary, and he's using the ethics committee to express his bitterness.'
Mr. Bell, who called Mr. DeLay 'the most corrupt politician in America today,' said that he had been preparing the complaint for months and that his defeat at the polls had nothing to do with it.
'Tom DeLay,'' Mr. Bell said, 'has created a climate of fear and retribution inside the people's House, and it must come to an end.'"
- posted by geoff @ #