EDITORIALS
                    Lexington Herald-Leader
 

                    Tom DeLay, victim

                    Rogers' aid to House's 'Hammer' oozes irony
 

                    U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers wants to be chairman of the House Appropriations Committee when the new
                    Congress convenes next year.

                    Of course, that desire had nothing to do with Rogers helping raise at least $113,000 for the legal defense
                    fund of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, known in the House as "The Hammer."

                    Shoot, no. Heaven forbid.

                    Rogers didn't host a Lexington fund-raiser for DeLay last summer to butter up one of the guys who will be
                    making the call on that committee chairmanship. As the 5th District congressman said in a statement this
                    week, he hosted the fund-raiser because DeLay "is being maligned as part of a political witch hunt."

                    Good. We're glad Rogers has cleared up all this confusion about DeLay.

                    Some folks might get the wrong idea about the poor guy from the fact that the House Ethics Committee
                    seems to have made a full-time job this year of citing him for, well, stretching the rules a bit.

                    Other folks might look at his three Texas pals who got indicted for allegedly scamming campaign finance
                    laws and wonder if DeLay had a hand in the deal, particularly since it was his political action committee
                    that was involved in the scamming.

                    Hard-core cynics might conclude that an indictment of DeLay is expected and even imminent from the fact
                    that the House Republican Caucus recently changed its rules so that DeLay won't have to step down from
                    the floor leader's job if he is indicted.

                    So, we're glad Rogers set the record straight.

                    Now we know that he was just helping out a colleague who's being victimized by a witch hunt, not currying
                    favor with a powerful House leader who plays fast and loose with the rules.

                    But even though Rogers has put to rest our concerns about his fund-raising on behalf of DeLay, one irony
                    about the situation did leap out at us.

                    Legal defense funds for members of Congress are governed by the respective houses of Congress, not by
                    federal election laws.

                    As a result, it's OK for the funds to accept corporate contributions, which campaign committees and
                    political action committees cannot legally do. Some of the money Rogers helped raise for DeLay's defense
                    fund came from corporations.

                    The indictments filed against DeLay's Texas friends -- and eight corporations -- involve an alleged scheme
                    to funnel corporate contributions into political campaigns in violation of Texas law.

                    Thus, if DeLay is indicted in this case, he can use corporate contributions to defend himself against
                    charges that involve illegal corporate contributions.

                    Maybe that irony would be enough to get the House and Senate to change their rules and prohibit
                    corporate contributions to their members' legal defense funds.