By Tara Copp
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, November 11, 2006
WASHINGTON — Texas congressional Democrats, newly empowered by their party's gains on Election Day, plan to ask Gov. Rick Perry to end state contracts with two lobbying firms tied to former GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
A key issue is that the main lobbyists — former DeLay chief of staff Drew Maloney at the Federalist Group, and Todd Boulanger at Cassidy & Associates — contributed thousands of dollars to keep Republicans in power. Maloney also donated directly to the campaigns that ended the careers of Texas' most senior Democratic lawmakers, leaving the state with less clout in Congress.
. . .
Boulanger is a former associate of ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges that he conspired to bribe public officials. Boulanger's donations, though aimed at maintaining a Republican majority in Congress, didn't appear to be targeted directly against Texas Democrats.
However, an analysis of Federal Election Commission records of Maloney's donations shows that he got directly involved in campaigns against Texas Democrats.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/11/11/11texlobby.htmlSo the State of Texas is giving Texan taxpayer money to lobbyist firms which in turn give money to Republican campaigns to defeat Democrats. Because Democrats are in the minority they couldn't do anything about it.
How is this not illegal.