Blunt-Ellis-DeLay Refined Their Money Laundering Scheme In Missouri

Today, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted along with longtime DeLay and Blunt staffer, Jim Ellis, for conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance law.

A consent decree between Blunt's Rely on Your Beliefs Fund and the Missouri Ethics Commission, dated May 23, 2002 (pdf version) reveals that the basic scheme that DeLay and TRMPAC were indicted for yesterday in Texas was perfected by Blunt, DeLay and Ellis in Missouri, as early as 1999 and 2000.

According to news accounts, long before TRMPAC, Jim Ellis ran Tom DeLay's ARMPAC, and Roy Blunt's ROYB Fund.  For over a year in 1999 and 2000, while Ellis ran both PACs, the ROYB Fund failed to file the required disclosure reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission. 

Despite activity going back as far as the second quarter of 1999, the ROYB fund didn't even file a statement of organization with the Missouri Ethics Commission until July of 2000.  Blunt's committee was ultimately fined by the Missouri Ethics Committee for this failure.

It is quite interesting to note who Blunt was accepting money from during the time that Blunt and Ellis were failing to file the required reports:

• $50,000 on 3/31/00 from ARMPAC-Convention, a PAC of DeLay's run by Ellis
• $100,000 on 5/24/00 from ARMPAC-Convention
• $3,000 on 4/14/00 from Concorde Garment Manufacturing--a Marianas Island based sweat shop with ties to Jack Abramoff
• $3,000 on 4/17/00 from Juan C. Franco, a businessman from Puerto Rico with ties to Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff

During the same period, ROYB made a series of payments to DeLay related entities.

• $70,000 to the Alexander Strategy Group, a firm that employed several former DeLay staffers, and also DeLay's wife, Christine
• $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation
• $1,750 to the U.S. Family Network, a group run by a former DeLay staffer
• and payments to Jim Ellis and Blunt staffer, Gregg Hartley

The other major disbursements were to:

• $20,000 to the 7th Congressional District Republican Fund, a political committee controlled by Roy Blunt that funnelled large contributions to the campaign of Blunt's son, Matt
• $100,000 to the Missouri Republican Party, that funnelled large contributions to the campaign of Blunt's son, Matt

 As you can see, the seeds of the TRMPAC scheme were sown in the rocky soil of Southwest MO in 1999 and 2000.

The two campaign finance reports this post details can be downloaded in pdf by clicking here and here.

The scheme between ROYB and the 7th District Congressional Republican Committee is outlined here.