Posted on 12/10/2004 1:14:12 AM PST by weegee
AUSTIN - Travis County prosecutors Thursday dropped a felony indictment accusing a California corporation of making illegal campaign contributions in 2002 in exchange for the company agreeing to testify against other defendants in the investigation of Texans for a Republican Majority.
The agreement ends the prosecution of Diversified Collection Services Inc., a company that specializes in assisting federal and state government agencies in recovery of delinquent and defaulted debt.
The company gave $50,000 in corporate cash to Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee, in 2002 to help the GOP take control of the Texas House.
Corporate contributions are illegal in Texas if they are used to help a political candidate.
Three political associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, were indicted in the case in September along with eight corporations, including Diversified Services.
The company also agreed to support a "nonpartisan, balanced and publicly informative program or series of educational programs related to the role of corporations in American democracy."
Court filings signed by District Attorney Ronnie Earle said he agreed to drop the prosecution because the company convinced him it donated the money based on "false and misleading information provided by the fund-raiser that solicited the contribution." It also said an officer who authorized the donation is no longer with the company.
The GOP takeover allowed DeLay to push a major congressional redistricting bill through the Legislature to replace a Democratic gerrymander with a Republican one
Should be interesting to see if Pelosi continues to call Delay an indicted felon.
On the contrary--it sounds to me like ol' Ronnie is trying to get this fundraising company to 'roll over' on Tom.
TRUE.
We love Tom down in Galveston County and invite the rest of you out to meet him at the 2005 Galveston County Lincoln Day Dinner
So check out www.lincolndaydinner.com and www.galvestoncountygop.com . Thanks
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