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Monday, Nov 23, 2009
The details of that Scotland trip remain murky and may be one focus of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. In general, golf trips paid for by lobbyists are a violation of House ethics rules, but charities can wine and dine lawmakers pretty freely -- thanks to DeLay. As the first order of business in the 108th Congress, DeLay pushed through in January 2003 a reversal of rules that had barred lawmakers from accepting free trips to charity events. At the time, the DeLay Foundation for Kids was planning its spring golf fundraiser.
It should be said that DeLay and his wife Christine appear to be genuinely committed to helping abused and neglected children. The couple have helped raise three foster kids themselves. DeLay spokesman Dan Allen has always characterized DeLay's charity work as altruistic. "We understand the problems that plague the system and the needs of children that go unmet each day," DeLay and his wife wrote in a letter appearing on their Web site. "It is the mission of the DeLay Foundation for Kids to address the significant needs of abused and neglected children."
But so far, tax records show that DeLay's foundations have spent far more on golf fundraisers than on programs for children. (There are two foundations: The DeLay Foundation for Kids is one; it raises money for a second foundation, Rio Bend, a housing development under construction for foster children.) Over the past four fiscal years, DeLay's foundations have spent almost $600,000 on golf fundraisers at exotic retreats. That is more than seven times what DeLay has so far handed out to unrelated organizations that are actively helping kids, according to tax returns through the most recent filings of June 2004. Golf retreats are the only fundraising activity apparent on the foundations' tax returns.
DeLay's own personal financial-disclosure reports show him traveling to golf in Virginia Beach, West Palm Beach, Miami, and West Hampton, N.Y., at his charities' expense. (An anonymous DeLay foundation official told a reporter from Broward Daily Business Review in 2003 that DeLay would pay his own way to the functions.) The golf trips paid for by the DeLay Foundation for Kids appear in his personal financial-disclosure forms covering 2003, while nothing appears for previous years' golf fundraisers. It is unclear who paid for those trips. His office did not return repeated calls seeking an answer to that question.
At the lavish golf outings, DeLay's foundation has pulled in nearly $7 million from corporate bigwigs. DeLay is not required to reveal the names of contributors to his charity golf outings. That anonymity has fueled speculation from charity watchdogs that the fundraisers are simply an opportunity for lawmakers, corporations and lobbyists to skirt campaign finance and ethics rules as they get together in swank private retreats.
The New York Times reported this month that contributors to the DeLay Foundation for Kids have included AT&T, the Corrections Corporation of America, Exxon Mobil, Limited Brands, and the Southern Company, as well as Bill and Melinda Gates, the Microsoft founder and his wife, and Michael Dell of Dell computers. Tax records show some individual contributions have run up to $250,000. Individual golf outings have raised well over $1 million, according to the IRS documents.
At the charity fundraisers, contributors get to golf with DeLay at places like Key Largo's Ocean Reef Club, described on its Web site as "a very exclusive" 2,000-acre destination country club "known for its Caribbean flair, unparalleled yachting and diving waters, exceptional club service, meetings expertise and wide array of activities." It reportedly has a 4,000-foot lighted private airstrip.
Of the $7 million collected at these events since 2000, tax records for DeLay's two charities show that only about $80,000 has been distributed to various groups doing work to help children. Officials with DeLay's foundation said tax records so far have shown little money being spent on kids because they have been saving it for a major project that is now in progress.
Last December, construction began at DeLay's "Rio Bend," a 50-acre plot of donated cow pasture on the banks of the Brazos River in Richmond, Texas. Construction is well under way on nine homes and a chapel in what the DeLays envision will provide permanent homes and a sense of community for 48 foster children and their families from Fort Bend County. Rio Bend might eventually hold 192 kids. "Right now the foster children move from home to home to home. Our goal is to have a child never be asked to leave Rio Bend," said Jim Jenkins, president of the DeLay Foundation for Kids.
Jenkins said DeLay needed $4 million to break ground at Rio Bend. While tax returns show the DeLay Foundation for Kids had that much cash on hand by the end of the summer of 2003, Jenkins said drainage problems at the site delayed construction for over a year. Future returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service will show the new construction and how much the foundation has started to spend on foster kids. "We had to get to a certain level of funding in order to get under way with the first project. We needed around $4 million to break ground," Jenkins said. "The purpose has always been to support abused and neglected children."
