DeLay, who blocked the federalization of CNMI immigration in the late 1990s, was accused of conspiring to funnel $190,000 in campaign donations to Republican candidates to the Texas legislature in the 2002 elections.
“The public officials people elect to represent them must do so honestly and ethically and if not, they will be held accountable,” said Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.
DeLay faces five to 99 years in prison for the money laundering conviction and two to 20 years for a conspiracy count as well, plus fines. He is free on bond until his sentencing in a Texas state court on Dec 20. DeLay indicated he would appeal.
“This is an abuse of power, it is a miscarriage of justice. I am very disappointed. But it is what it is … and we will carry on. Hopefully we can get this before people who understand the law,” DeLay said after the jury gave its verdict.
A former owner of a pest control company, DeLay was elected to the House of Representatives in 1984 and rose quickly through the ranks, earning a reputation as a master vote-counter and prolific fund-raiser.
In 1994, DeLay was part of “The Republican Revolution” that won control of the House for the first time in 40 years.
He then got the job of House majority whip, making him the chamber’s third ranking Republican.
DeLay assembled a political machine that churned out narrow and largely partisan victories on legislation from tax cuts to easing federal regulations.
DeLay resigned in disgrace from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, 12 years after helping Republicans win control of the chamber for the first time in four decades.
He had stepped down as majority leader the previous year when indicted in Texas on campaign finance charges.
He then resigned from Congress amid links with Jack Abramoff, a former Republican lobbyist snared in a federal investigation of influence peddling on Capitol Hill. Two of DeLay’s ex-aides pleaded guilty to corruption.
During a six-day period in 2004, DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee on three separate matters — a 2002 fund-raiser that it said gave the appearance of donors getting special access; enlisting the help of a federal agency in a Texas political spat and offering a political favor to a member in an effort to win passage of a prescription drug bill.
When Abramoff was still a lobbyist for the CNMI government and the local garment industry, DeLay visited Saipan in Dec. 1997 and called the islands “the perfect petri-dish of capitalism.”
