Blunt Should Reveal Donors To 2000 Convention Effort

In the Summer of 2000, Rep. Tom DeLay and Rep. Roy Blunt jointly sponsored multiple events at the Republican National Convention.

The money was raised into a committee called ARMPAC Convention.  ARMPAC Convention ultimately transferred $150,000 to Blunt's ROYB fund, which he used to make contributions that benefitted his son, and also to pay the Alexander Strategy Group, which employed DeLay's wife.

When asked about these contributions earlier this fall, Blunt asked former Chief of Staff, and now Vice Chairman of Cassidy & Associates Gregg Hartley to respond on his behalf.

Hartley said in an October 2005 AP story: 

Blunt and DeLay planned all along to raise more money than was needed for the convention parties and then direct some of that to other causes, such as sup-porting state candidates, according to longtime Blunt aide Gregg Hartley.

"We put together a budget for what we thought we would raise and spend on the convention and whatever was left over we were going to use to support candi-dates," said Hartley, Blunt's former chief of staff, who answered AP's questions on behalf of the Missouri Republican.

But now Blunt has changed his story.  From today's AP story:

Texas prosecutors recently subpoenaed records of a series of financial transactions in 2000 between DeLay and Blunt that were highlighted in a recent AP story.

DeLay raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 Republican National Convention and sent some of the excess to Blunt through a series of donations that benefited the causes of both men.

After transfers between political organizations, some of the money went to the campaign of Blunt's son, Matt, in his successful 2000 campaign for secretary of state. Now the Republican governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt eventually received more than $160,000 in 2000.

Taylor, the Blunt spokeswoman, denied that DeLay raised excess money for the purpose of transferring it to Blunt. Rather, she said, the convention fundraising was a joint effort between DeLay and Blunt all along.

It is interesting that Taylor is now "denying" the account of Blunt's former Chief of Staff, Gregg Hartley, a man with direct firsthand knowledge of the events and transactions in 2000.

But just for a moment, let's assume that what Taylor says is correct, that money from ARMPAC Convention was not a transfer of excess funds, but was in fact money Roy Blunt helped raise.

That raises a set of new and very interesting questions for Mr. Blunt.  Just Monday, Taylor told the Columbia Daily Tribune:

Blunt spokesman Burson Taylor said the congressman has a long history of opposing Indian gaming and doesn’t accept contributions from gaming interests.

Here's the problem with that.  In 2000, USA Today reported that among the sponsors of the DeLay/Blunt convention activities was none other than, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a client of Jack Abramoff's.

If Mr. Blunt has nothing to hide with regard to his activities relating to the 2000 Republican National Convention, he can take a simple step to answer the remaining questions.  Mr. Blunt and Mr. DeLay should release the records of the ARMPAC Convetion account. 

 By revealing the source of the funds to ARMPAC Convention, Mr. Blunt would be revealing for the first time the source of the $150,000 that he accepted from ARMPAC Convention, that he then distributed to Missouri candidates, DeLay related charities, and the Alexander Strategy Group where DeLay's wife was employed.

Mr. Blunt should not expect members of the GOP Caucus to support him for Majority Leader with a cloud hanging over his head.  Until he release the names of the donors, they can safely assume that the reason he can't get his story straight, is because he has something to hide.

Here are related documents from the original AP story.