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FRIDAY FLASHBACK Kansas City Star: Blunt still in Delay's shadow
For Immediate Release: March 5, 2010 Contact: Ryan Hobart (573) 636-5241 Ext. 125 FRIDAY FLASHBACK Blunt still in Delay's shadow Jefferson City, Mo. – In January of 2006, the Kansas City Star published a story detailing the many connections Congressman Roy Blunt and disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay have to the scandal-ridden Alexander Strategy Group and their shady political consulting operation. Here are some excerpts from the article: Congressman Blunt has drawn eight opponents so far in the Missouri primary for U.S. Senate. --30--Kansas City Star:
Blunt and DeLay have been politically joined at the hip since 1999 when the Texan, then majority whip, plucked the one-term congressman out of obscurity and put him on glide path to power.
[Rep. DeLay] appointed Blunt chief deputy whip over more experienced and better-known lawmakers. When DeLay rose to majority leader three years later, his protege followed him up the ladder.
Their political fundraising efforts also were close.
DeLay’s political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, and Blunt’s PAC, Rely On Your Beliefs, shared offices in a Capitol Hill town house between 1999 and 2001.
They also employed the same PAC coordinator and the same political consulting firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, which also had an office in the townhouse. Blunt’s PAC paid the strategy firm about $150,000 for political consulting in 2000.
DeLay’s former chief of staff, Ed Buckham, led Alexander Strategy. Its staff included several former DeLay aides and DeLay’s wife, Christine, who reportedly earned more than $100,000 over three years to compile lists of lawmakers’ favorite charities. A Blunt spokesman said last fall that Blunt had been unaware of Christine DeLay’s role with Alexander Strategy.
The Alexander group this week said it was shutting down, having lost many clients as a result of the scandals.
Another group that had an office at the town house was the U.S. Family Network. The Washington Post reported recently that the group, which billed itself as a grass-roots public advocacy group, was connected to DeLay and that its money came largely from corporations connected to Abramoff.
Taylor said Blunt’s PAC had no staff, office space or equipment at first and used Alexander’s offices for “everything from clerical work and copy machines to fundraising and event planning.”
During 2000, state finance reports show, Blunt’s PAC paid rent to the Family group and to James Ellis, another former DeLay political aide who directed both DeLay’s and Blunt’s leadership PACs.
Ellis was indicted last fall with DeLay on charges of illegally directing corporate contributions to Texas state legislative candidates. He was also indicted in an earlier case on charges of money laundering and violating Texas election law. (Kansas City Star, 1/14/06)
