Embattled House Leader Gets CUBoost

WASHINGTON - (06/20/05) -- CUNA keeps pitching in to help theembattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas with financialsupport. The credit union lobby group, which has developed closeties with the Republican leader over the past three Congresses,contributed $5,000 to DeLay's leadership PAC, known as Americansfor a Republican Majority, or ARMPAC, last month, as DeLay's legalexpenses keep mounting in connection with his investigations by theHouse Ethics Committee and Texas authorities probing DeLay'sinvolvement in a scandal involving the redistricting of Housedistricts in Texas. Since 2000, when he was House Majority Whip,DeLay has become one of CUNA's favored lawmakers, with CUNAcontributing the maximum $10,000 to DeLay's personal campaign eachof the last three elections, as well as almost $20,000 to ARMPAC,and as much as $20,000 to DeLay's annual charity golf outing. CUNAhas already contributed the maximum allowable $5,000 to bothDelay's primary campaign and $5,000 to his general electioncampaign this year, more than 12 months before the primary. DeLayhas become a firm credit union supporter, helping to push thecredit union-backed bankruptcy reform bill to a final vote andlending support on other issues.