Capitol Inside October 4, 2004
DeLay Stays One Step Ahead of Critics with Last-Minute Scheduling Switch
BY Mike Hailey
Now you see him, now you don't.
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay outfoxed local Democrats who'd been planning to protest his appearance at a Monday fundraiser in downtown Austin.
The powerful Texan slipped into town four hours earlier than originally scheduled, started raising cash for his re-election campaign and hoped to hitthe road before any angry protestors arrived on the scene.Going into Monday, Democrats had hoped to have several hundred people packing the street outside the Austin Club during the fundraising event to draw attention to DeLay's ties to the political action committee at the center ofmore than two dozen indictments that were returned two weeks ago by a Travis County grand jury investigating corporate influence in the 2002 state House elections. Three fundraising consultants for the Texans for a Republican Majority and several corporations face criminal charges in the ongoing probe.But DeLay pulled a fast one on the Democrats with a last-minute change of plans. He had sponsors move the fundraiser from the noon hour up to to 8 a.m.Lobbyists and others who'd indicated plans to attend the event were alerted Sunday night to the scheduling revisions. According to planners, the time of the event was changed so DeLay could get back to Washington in time for a key vote on the floor of the U.S. House. DeLay's supporters dismissed suggestions that he was trying to elude protestors with the sudden scheduling shift. DeLay arrived at the Austin Club about 7:50 a.m. in a black Cadillac Escalade sports utility vehicle, which followed another car into an alley off 9th Street between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street. The congressman, who was accompanied by a small security detail, entered the building through a side door on the alley. There wasn't a single protestor in sight at the time.The Austin fundraiser was designed to help DeLay raise cash for his general election race against Democrat Richard Morrison, a Sugar Land lawyer who's attempting to overcome long odds in challenging the second most powerful Republican in the U.S. House. Democrats became incensed when they heard last week that DeLay planned to raise money for his re-election in Austin just a fewblocks from the county courthouse where District Attorney Ronnie Earle has been leading the grand jury inquiry since early 2003. But even though TRMPAC was modeled and named after a national leadership PACrun by DeLay, the former legislator from the Houston area has insisted that he had nothing to do with the state committee's activities in the legislative contests two years ago. Two of the consultants who were indicted, however, arebased in Washington and have close ties to DeLay. TRMPAC helped the GOP seize its first majority in the Texas House since Reconstruction - and that led to the election of Speaker Tom Craddick at thestart of the regular session last year. Craddick has also been a target of the probe for activities believed to be related to his race in 2002 for the House's top job. With a Republican majority and speaker in place, DeLay was able topersuade the the Legislature into redrawing congressional districts so the GOP could finally claim a majority in the U.S. House delegation from Texas as well.
