Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

November 04, 2005

DeLay Sought to Funnel Money Through Charity

A newly-disclosed email shows that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) asked lobbyist Jack Abramoff "to raise money for him through a private charity controlled by Mr. Abramoff, an unusual request that led the lobbyist to try to gather at least $150,000 from his Indian tribe clients and their gambling operations," the New York Times reports.

The messages from 2002 "appear to be the clearest evidence to date of an effort" by DeLay to pressure Abramoff "to raise money for him. The e-mail messages do not specify why Mr. DeLay wanted the money, how it was to be used or why he would want money raised through the auspices of a private charity."

This relationship is being probed by the Justice Department in Washington, DC and is separate from DeLay's indictments in Texas for alleged campaign finance violations.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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